Permanent closure of Belfast Great Victoria Street station

[Elwyn]

Belfast Gt Victoria St station is to close permanently on 10th May 2024, in preparation for the opening of the new Grand Central station later this year. (The new station is about 200 yards away). Trains will continue to operate through the city, using the line that avoids Gt Victoria St.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68855348

"Belfast's Great Victoria Street train station will permanently close on 10 May ahead of the move to the new Grand Central Station."

 

[thenorthern]

Scary to think Great Victoria Street is 29 years old.

 

[The exile]

Obviously it’s going to a bit inconvenient for the next few months but from what I remember, Great Victoria Street is going to be no great loss!

 

[duffield]

Scary to think Great Victoria Street is 29 years old.

I saw the thread title and thought it sounded like the end of another magnificent historic railway building! Errr... I guess not then.

 

[The exile]

I saw the thread title and thought it sounded like the end of another magnificent historic railway building! Errr... I guess not then.

I think that happened rather explosively at various points in the 1970s.

 

[fgwrich]

Obviously it’s going to a bit inconvenient for the next few months but from what I remember, Great Victoria Street is going to be no great loss!

Absolutely not! And to go from 4 platforms to 8 will be a great sight to see.

 

[route101]

I was at Belfast Great Victoria Street yesterday and didn't know this was happening! I was surprised to hear Anne announcements .

 

[MrJeeves]

I was at Belfast Great Victoria Street yesterday and didn't know this was happening! I was surprised to hear Anne announcements .

Worldline provide the CIS across the NI Railways network. Very weird if you weren't expecting it!

 

[route101]

Worldline provide the CIS across the NI Railways network. Very weird if you weren't expecting it!

I was expecting a local accent. Same would apply in Scotland.

 

[trubla]

Oh Dear. When visiting in-laws a longer walk from the station to the Crown Liquor Bar for food and back again. And a few pints of lovely ale.

 

[neonison]

Not entirely clear on its history.
When I visited NI in 1977 it was not in use. A single route ran from Lisburn and the south through Belfast to Bangor.
I appreciate the Larne line is now connected through a new (?) chord but GVS seems less that 40 years old.

 

[Elwyn]

The version of GVS that has just closed opened in 1995. A victim of its own success which is why it needs doubled in size.

 

[zwk500]

Not entirely clear on its history.
When I visited NI in 1977 it was not in use. A single route ran from Lisburn and the south through Belfast to Bangor.
I appreciate the Larne line is now connected through a new (?) chord but GVS seems less that 40 years old.

As best I can make out:
Pre-1876: The Belfast & County Down railway approached from the East and terminated at Queen's Quay. The Great Northern Railway (of Ireland) approached from the South and terminated at Great Victoria Street, and the Belfast & Northern Counties railway approached from the north and terminated at York Road.
1876-1885: The Belfast Central railway is built and the GNR(I) ran passenger trains (from 1878) between Adelaide and Queen's Bridge (on the opposite side of the Lagan to Queen's Quay), with a connection to the B&CDR immeidately east of Queen's Quay. There was no connection from GVS to the BCR. A connection to the B&NCR was planned but in the end was built slightly later and made use of the harbour board's lines so wasn't useful for through passenger services.
1885: The BCR closes to passengers but remains usable by excursions and goods.
(1948: Ulster Transport Authority formed, begins closures in 1950s)
1965: A bridge is removed between the former Queen's Bridge and York Road severing the connection to the former B&NCR.
(1968: Northern Ireland Railways formed)
1976: BCR reopened to passenger services, GVS and Queen's Quay closed and services from Bangor and Newry/Portadown/Lisburn diverted to Belfast Central.
1992: York Road closed and replaced by Yorkgate in preparation for rebuilding of cross-harbour link
1994: Link to the former BCR reopened and through services from Belfast Central to Larne and Londonderry/Derry start.
1995: Current GVS reopens due to Belfast Central being not convenient for the city centre.

Nowadays the 4-platform GVS has been outgrown by passenger numbers, and redevelopment gives opportunity for twice as many platforms, longer platforms, a new Enterprise Lounge, integration with bus and Glider transport and better rail capacity at the station throat.

I highly recommend these pages:

Disused Stations: Belfast Great Victoria Street Station

Disused Stations: Belfast Queens Bridge station

Disused Stations: Belfast Queens Quay Station

Disused Stations: Belfast York Road Station

 

[neonison]

As best I can make out:
Pre-1876: The Belfast & County Down railway approached from the East and terminated at Queen's Quay. The Great Northern Railway (of Ireland) approached from the South and terminated at Great Victoria Street, and the Belfast & Northern Counties railway approached from the north and terminated at York Road.
1876-1885: The Belfast Central railway is built and the GNR(I) ran passenger trains (from 1878) between Adelaide and Queen's Bridge (on the opposite side of the Lagan to Queen's Quay), with a connection to the B&CDR immeidately east of Queen's Quay. There was no connection from GVS to the BCR. A connection to the B&NCR was planned but in the end was built slightly later and made use of the harbour board's lines so wasn't useful for through passenger services.
1885: The BCR closes to passengers but remains usable by excursions and goods.
(1948: Ulster Transport Authority formed, begins closures in 1950s)
1965: A bridge is removed between the former Queen's Bridge and York Road severing the connection to the former B&NCR.
(1968: Northern Ireland Railways formed)
1976: BCR reopened to passenger services, GVS and Queen's Quay closed and services from Bangor and Newry/Portadown/Lisburn diverted to Belfast Central.
1992: York Road closed and replaced by Yorkgate in preparation for rebuilding of cross-harbour link
1994: Link to the former BCR reopened and through services from Belfast Central to Larne and Londonderry/Derry start.
1995: Current GVS reopens due to Belfast Central being not convenient for the city centre.

Nowadays the 4-platform GVS has been outgrown by passenger numbers, and redevelopment gives opportunity for twice as many platforms, longer platforms, a new Enterprise Lounge, integration with bus and Glider transport and better rail capacity at the station throat.

I highly recommend these pages:

Disused Stations: Belfast Great Victoria Street Station

Disused Stations: Belfast Queens Bridge station

Disused Stations: Belfast Queens Quay Station

Disused Stations: Belfast York Road Station

Many thanks!
The only other connection, albeit outside of Belfast but one which I have done was Lisburn to Antrim.

 

[Backroom_boy]

Any inside track on when Grand Central will open? Publicly its 'Autumn '24' but that leaves a lot of leeway.

Also is the Enterprise service moving straight away or remains at Lanyon Place till the new year?

 

[bangor-toad]

There's not a huge amount of detail available. "Autumn 2024" is about as good as it gets for the detail of when the new station will open.

The run up to that is going to be annoying though.
From 3rd July the line between Lisburn and Lanyon Place will close. There will be rail replacements buses every 10 minutes between Lisburn and Belfast Monday to Saturday and hourly on Sunday. All Bangor, Larne and Londonderry services will terminate at Lanyon Place. If you want to get across Belfast from Lanyon Place you can walk or take one of the normal buses.

That's going to make my travel to work a bit awkward...
Somewhat concerningly the information about this closure used to be July and August, now it's changed to Wednesday 3rd July – Early Autumn 2024.

It looks as if the Enterprise will run Dublin <--> Newry only from 3rd July. I suspect it will only restart to Belfast once the new station is open. I've seem no confirmation of that though.


Information is available on the Translink website (which in it's usual form doesn't make it easy to find!) Scroll to nearly the bottom of: Translink website page

Cheers,
Mr Toad

 

[Backroom_boy]

So it'll be touch and go whether Enterprise is running from Grand Central by mid-October? (When I'm Planning a visit)

 

[Turtle]

So it'll be touch and go whether Enterprise is running from Grand Central by mid-October? (When I'm Planning a visit)

Ah yes. Gt Victoria St. The only UK station where accidentally boarding the wrong train would result in arriving in the wrong country.

 

[gnolife]

Ah yes. Gt Victoria St. The only UK station where accidentally boarding the wrong train would result in arriving in the wrong country.

Do they do checks at St Pancras after clearing passport control to get onto the platform?

 

[MrJeeves]

Do they do checks at St Pancras after clearing passport control to get onto the platform?

No, not normally, but there is a member of staff near each door who usually is receptive to being shown a ticket, and also announcements on board prior to departure.

Often less of an issue due to the time between departures though.

 

[DoubleLemon]

There are a load of great videos on the Translink Youtube pages showing the scale and progress. Its an impressive build

 

[Backroom_boy]

There are a load of great videos on the Translink Youtube pages showing the scale and progress. Its an impressive build

Looks like four short and four long platforms; assuming long will be used by the enterprise service but local services could use any?

 

[zwk500]

Looks like four short and four long platforms; assuming long will be used by the enterprise service but local services could use any?

Station will effectively be split, 1-4 (short) for Bangor/Larne/Londonderry-Derry lines, 5/6 (long) for Enterprise and 7/8 (long) for Lisburn/Portadown, although flexibility within the layout exists for some overlap within that to facilitate stock rotation and so on.

 

[185]

Seems a waste that they can't retain & refurbish the top ends of the original GVS platforms and tracks to use for future growth, creating platforms 9-12 of the new place.

 

[zwk500]

Seems a waste that they can't retain & refurbish the top ends of the original GVS platforms and tracks to use for future growth, creating platforms 9-12 of the new place.

This would have likely caused problems for the junction layout due to the extra curvature for extremely low benefit. There is plenty of room on the 8 platforms to accommodate higher service frequencies.

 

[Flying Snail]

Seems a waste that they can't retain & refurbish the top ends of the original GVS platforms and tracks to use for future growth, creating platforms 9-12 of the new place.

They are already gone, that space is required for the access road to the bus station.

 

[Meerkat]

Station will effectively be split, 1-4 (short) for Bangor/Larne/Londonderry-Derry lines, 5/6 (long) for Enterprise and 7/8 (long) for Lisburn/Portadown, although flexibility within the layout exists for some overlap within that to facilitate stock rotation and so on.

Will there be services going in from the south and then out the other way to serve the other Belfast stations?

 

[The exile]

Ah yes. Gt Victoria St. The only UK station where accidentally boarding the wrong train would result in arriving in the wrong country.

Would have been difficult in recent years as the Enterprise service went from Lanyon Place. If you wanted to get on a train and end up in the wrong country you’d have to go there, Newry or Portadown.

 

[zwk500]

Will there be services going in from the south and then out the other way to serve the other Belfast stations?

AIUI, no.

 

[bangor-toad]

Will there be services going in from the south and then out the other way to serve the other Belfast stations?

To follow on from zwk500's comment:

Previously there used to many services that reversed in Great Victoria Street, eg Bangor - Lanyon Place - Great Victoria Street (reverse) - Lisburn - Portadown. This was standard stuff with between 2tph and occasionally 6tph. For the new station and layout there's almost no information available as to what will actually happen.

When I looked at the planning documents it seemed to show the route from Lanyon Place (Bangor, Larne and Londonderry services) can physically reach platforms 1 to 4. There is no route to reach the higher numbered platforms.
The route in from Lisburn can access all of the platforms.

So it could be possible for the Bangor - Lanyon Place - Great Victoria Street (reverse) - Lisburn - Portadown services to stay but i just don't know if they are being planned.
There is very little, if any, information online about the plans. However, I did read somewhere that there was a desire to increase the service provision within Belfast so Translink were looking at something like this;

The Bangor line services would start a York Street, go to the Grand Central, reverse and go back to Bangor. So the stops in this direction would be:
York Street
Lanyon Place
Botanic
City Hospital
Grand Central (reverse)
City Hospital
Botanic
Lanyon Place
Titanic Quarter and then stations to Bangor.


Translink do offer a good service but I wish they'd provide a bit more information in advance!
Cheers,
Mr Toad