CROSS HARBOUR RAIL LINK

The Belfast Cross Harbour Rail link, the Dargan Bridge, opened on 28^th November 1994.

Crossing the River Lagan, the Dargan Bridge is approximately 1500m long and is named after railway engineer William Dargan. It connects the Bangor, Derry~Londonderry and Larne train lines and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9^th March 1995, along with the Lagan Road bridge.

The Belfast Cross Harbour Road and Rail Link Bridges were constructed of over 1000 precast units, with 350 of those making up the railway bridge. The river segments were towed into place by tugboats and a barge-mounted crane put them into their final position. Each segment of the bridge is 4m long and weighs up to 95 tonnes. The bridge contains 47 spans in total.

The opening of the Cross Harbour Rail link effectively created an integrated network, rather than two separate systems - the former Yorkgate station opened in October 1992, replacing York Road station and in preparation for the new bridge. Yorkgate (now York Street Station) was initially the terminus for Larne Line trains until the opening of the Dargan Bridge, which then allowed Larne Line trains to continue into Belfast Central (now Lanyon Place). The new Dargan bridge subsequently enabled the re-opening of the Antrim-Bleach Green line in 2001 and re-routing Derry~Londonderry trains into Belfast with improved journey times.

The Lagan Junction to Yorkgate renewals project, completed in May 2023, was an important scheme, maintaining and improving this critical rail link in Northern Ireland’s transport sector.