Belfast Grand Central Station

• Designed to be fully inclusive for all, this impressive high-quality facility will offer an enhanced user experience for around 20million customer journeys every year.
• There will be double the number of rail platforms from 4 to 8 and an increase in the number of bus stands to 26 increasing the available capacity.
• Cross Border Enterprise services will also relocate with an enhanced timetable planned bringing passengers into the heart of the city.
• With a clear focus on active travel, the streets adjoining BGCS will include allocation of road space to pedestrians and cyclists – with the provision of 200+ capacity for cycle parking. 
• Outside there will be a new exciting public realm space - Saltwater Square with a strong emphasis on arts and culture which has potential to become a focal point for everyone to use and enjoy.

Delivering a project on the scale of Belfast Grand Central Station will require a period of significant transition as essential engineering works take place throughout 2024 and 2025.

This includes utility and significant investment in public realm improvement works to enhance walking routes, accessibility and cycling.

This will involve road and lane closures, impacting traffic within the city centre, including some alterations to Translink bus services.

While works on the railway have been ongoing for the duration of the project, 2024 will see intensive periods of engineering work to realign the track to serve the new station. This will require some closures of the railway line and therefore disruption to rail passengers. Bus Substitution services will be put in place during these times.

Translink, in partnership with our partners, will be implementing a series of mitigation measures to help manage disruption - we will keep you updated on the timing of these over the coming weeks and months:

• Multi-utility connections consolidated and isolated within the one area;
• Road and lane closures carefully planned with contractors, utility companies and the Department for Infrastructure;
• New Metro and Ulsterbus timetables;
• Relocation of some bus stops and rerouting of services to optimise timetabling and service patterns;
• Maximising the use of bus passenger priority measures;
• Bus substitutions services in operation during railway closures;
• Ongoing public awareness campaign to encourage public transport use and reduce traffic within the city.

Implementation of these mitigations will be subject to overall construction timelines

Passengers should plan their journeys using Translink website / Journey Planner, follow us on social media and leave extra time for their journeys.

As part of the project, there will be significant investment in public realm improvement works around the new station to enhance pedestrian safety, walking routes, accessibility and cycling.

This will involve road, lane and footpath closures, impacting traffic and pedestrians within the city centre. There will also be some alterations to Translink bus services.

New temporary bus lanes in operation from Monday 1 July.

The temporary bus lanes have been introduced as significant public improvement works around the new Belfast Grand Central Station intensifies.

These measures will provide bus passenger priority, helping make bus travel more efficient and more attractive by enabling faster and more reliable bus journey helping reduce delays caused by general traffic. Increased use of public transport, leads to more efficient use of road space, which in turn brings benefits for the environment, the economy and the well-being of people.

People are recommended to come into Belfast city centre over the coming months using public transport networks or active travel where possible.

These temporary lanes will also ensure that emergency services can continue to access and move through the City Centre.

The lanes will be available to buses, motorcycles, bicycles and permitted taxis during the periods of operation and to all vehicles at other times. Lanes will be clearly marked with white lines and the associated signs. And any accessible parking spaces that are affected will be relocated.

Four new bus lanes will operate as follows:

• Howard Street – 24-hour bus lane on the approach to the Gt Victoria Street junction. The left turn into Gt Victoria Street will be for buses only. 
• Gt Victoria Street - 7AM to 7PM , Monday to Saturday, bus lane up to the junction with Bruce Street.
• Bruce Street - 7AM to 7PM, Monday to Saturday, bus lane up to the junction with Dublin Road.
• Dublin Road - 7AM to 7PM, Monday to Saturday,  bus lane up to Shaftsbury Square.

In addition, there will be a bus lane on North Street, which will operate from 7AM to 7PM , Monday to Saturday, from Bridge Street to Royal Avenue. The accessible parking bays for Blue Badge holders on North Street are being relocated, towards Bridge Street and into Royal Avenue.

A proposal for a temporary bus lane on the Lisburn Road, 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM, Monday to Friday, from Jubilee Road (City Hospital) to Sandy Row is still being finalised.

Metro and Ulsterbus Timetable Changes from Monday 1 July

To facilitate these works, from 1st July there will be some Metro and Ulsterbus timetable changes. Adjustments have been made to some city centre bus stops with relocation of some Ulsterbus services to Laganside Buscentre. These service changes will help maintain bus service reliability and performance during increased traffic pressures on the city centre network.

For more information:

https://www.translink.co.uk/metrostopchanges

https://www.translink.co.uk/ulsterbusstopchanges

• Belfast Lanyon Place to Lisburn will be closed.
• Express Bus substitution services will operate between Lisburn and Europa Buscentre every ten minutes Monday to Saturday and every hour on Sundays.
• Botanic and City Hospital Stations will be closed.
• Bus substitution services will operate between Belfast Lanyon Place and Europa Buscentre every 30 minutes serving stops adjacent to City Hospital, Queens University and Botanic* (see below).
• Adelaide, Balmoral, Finaghy, Dunmurry, Derriaghy, Lambeg and Hilden stations will be closed. Passengers for these stations can use scheduled Metro/Ulsterbus services along the Lisburn Road.
• The Enterprise service will operate from Portadown to Dublin, with Belfast customers transferred by bus between Belfast Lanyon Place and Newry train station.
• Rail tickets will be accepted on scheduled bus services. 

Bus substitution services will operate between Belfast Lanyon Place and Europa Buscentre every 30 minutes serving stops adjacent to City Hospital, Queens University and Botanic

• Lanyon Station - For passengers going to Europa alight at next stop
• Great Victoria Street (Brennans Bar) For Passengers going to Botanic & City Hospital
• Bradbury Place (Laverys) for Botanic customers alighting
• Lisburn Road (City Hospital) for City Hospital passengers boarding and alighting
• University Road (Queens Students Union) for Queens passengers boarding and alighting
• Bradbury Place (Benedicts) for Botanic customers boarding
• Great Victoria Street (Great Northern Mall) for customers alighting for Europa and boarding for Lanyon
• Lanyon Station - For passengers alighting for Northern Rail services

Below we set out a proposed timeline of key activity and milestones for the project.

Please note, these are indicative and subject to change. Further details will be available closer to the relevant phase of works commencing and we will work closely to inform all stakeholders as part of this process.

15th April – September 2024 - Public realm improvements on Grosvenor Road. Footpath and lane closure required westbound before Durham Street junction to A12 junction (Westlink). Left turn on to Durham Street and A12 (Westlink) remains operational.

7th May – September 2024 - Footpath and cycle lane closure on Glengall Street and Great Victoria Street to facilitate public realm improvements.

June – September 2024 - Great Victoria Street crossing / footpath alignment requiring a partial footpath closure.

10th May 2024 - Great Victoria Street Station closes permanently. Europa Bus Centre remains operational.

1st July 2024 - New Ulsterbus and Metro timetable in operation. Adjustments have been made to some city centre bus stops with the relocation of some Ulsterbus services to Laganside Bus Centre. These service changes will help maintain bus service reliability and performance during increased traffic pressures on the city centre network.

1st July – September 2024 - Public realm works at Great Victoria Street/Grosvenor Road/Howard Street junction. GRAHAM will be installing temporary footpath extensions and completing enhancements to the crossings at the junction. To facilitate the widened footpath, adjacent to the Fitzwilliam Hotel on Great Victoria Street and Grosvenor Road, the left turn lane from Great Victoria Street onto Grosvenor Road has been removed and this left turn movement has been banned. Lane and footpath closures are required to complete this work and traffic management measures are being implemented on the ground to advise of these closures.  

3rd July – Early Autumn - Summer railway line closure. The railway line will close between Belfast Lanyon Place and Lisburn during until early Autumn and the southern corridor will operate from Lisburn southwards to Portadown/Newry. Bus substitution services will be provided (detail provided above)

Autumn 2024 - Operational Station opening. Rail services will move into the new station and 16 bus stands will be operational. Europa Bus Centre will close.

Passengers are urged to plan ahead, check the Translink website or Journey Planner before they travel as most passengers will see a change to their normal timetables.

February - May 2024 – Utility works. To facilitate essential connections to the new station a series of successful utility works have been completed by NI Water, BT, NIE, and Phoenix Gas. These required footpath and lane closures on Durham Street and Grosvenor Road.

30th March - 7th April 2024 – Easter line closure. On track engineering works were successfully carried out by Babcock during a 9-day closure of the railway line over the Easter period. These works were essential to continue the process of connecting up the rail lines to the new Belfast Grand Central Station.

Saturday 11th May 2024 – Great Victoria Street Station closure. This rail station has now closed with last services on Friday 10th May. A new Rail Timetable is in operation.