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.

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 - August 2024 – Public realm improvements on Grosvenor Road. Footpath and lane closure required westbound from before Durham Street junction to junction with A12 (Westlink). Left turn on to Durham Street and A12 (Westlink) will remain operational.

May - July 2024 – Public realm improvements on section of Glengall Street. (End closest to Great Victoria St and side of Europa Hotel). This may require lane/footpath closure.

Sat 11th May 2024 – Great Victoria Street Station will close with last services on Friday 10th May. Europa Bus Centre will remain operational.

The rail line will remain open throughout Belfast but no longer serving Great Victoria Street Station. Passengers will still be able to access the city from the new York Street Station, Lanyon Place, Botanic or City Hospital Stations and walk or cycle to their destination. Passengers can also use scheduled Metro or Glider services. Valid rail tickets can be used on Metro and Glider Services to interchange between these stations. All other lines remain open.

New Rail Timetable from Saturday 11th May – Passengers to note  on Saturday 11 May until 11am  the rail line is closed between Lanyon Place to Great Victoria Street to Lisburn

Botanic and City Hospital Stations, and Lisburn Road halts will be serviced via Metro and Ulsterbus Lisburn Road scheduled services – passengers with valid rail tickets can use local bus services.  For early morning train services only, bus substitution services will operate between Belfast Lanyon Place calling at Gt Victoria Street and  Lisburn.

Enterprise coach substitutions will operate from Lanyon Place to Newry Rail Station for the 6.50am, 8am and 10.35am services to Dublin.

June - August 2024 – Great Victoria St Crossing / footpath alignment. This will require a lane/footpath closure.

July - August 2024 – Summer railway line closure (dates TBC.) There are plans for the rail line to close between Belfast Lanyon Place and Lisburn during July and August.

All other rail lines will remain open from Belfast Lanyon Place / York Street Station to Derry~Londonderry, Larne and Bangor and the southern corridor will operate from Lisburn southwards. Cross Border Services will operate from Portadown with coach transfers from Belfast to Newry to connect with the Enterprise Train.

Autumn 2024 – Operational Station Opening. Rail services will move into the new station and 16 bus stands will be operational.

February - April 2024 – Utility works. To facilitate essential connections to the new station a series of successful utility works were completed by NI Water, BT, NIE, and Phoenix Gas between during February, March and April. 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.