NORTHERN IRELAND RAILWAYS (NIR)
■ TIMETABLE CHANGE:
A new bus and rail timetable was introduced by Translink on and from January 10.
The rail timetable replaced the December 3, 2021 document and was introduced following a directive from the Department for Infrastructure which was stated to be in response to reduced passenger numbers following the Northern Ireland Executive Regulations and Guidance on essential travel.
While off-peak and weekend services across the system received only minor changes, some peak period Monday to Friday services on the Belfast Great Victoria Street (GVS)-Londonderry and Larne lines were withdrawn.
Details are as follows: All trains on these routes are now stoppers and Whiteabbey has been removed from the Londonderry line timetable. The 06.05 GVS-Londonderry has been withdrawn and a 07.43 Coleraine to Londonderry runs in its path. The 16.46 and 17.46 Lanyon Place-Coleraine services have been withdrawn. The 05.50 and 07.05 Portrush to GVS and 06.12 LondonderryGVS have been withdrawn. There is now a 06.08 ex-Portrush and a 06.42 exLondonderry. The 21.38 ex-Londonderry now runs to Coleraine, not GVS. The semi-fast 06.45, 07.33 and 07.55 Larne Harbour-GVS have been withdrawn, as have the 16.33 and 17.05 GVS-Larne Harbour and 17.34 GVS-Larne Town.
■ TRAFFIC AND TRACTION:
The infrastructure project carried out in the Whiteabbey area continued over the Christmas/New Year period (see October and December 2021 issues). A total possession was in force between Fortwilliam Traincare Depot and Whiteabbey from December 27 to January 3. Bustitution was in use for all Larne line trains and between Lanyon Place and Antrim.
Belfast Great Victoria Street station (GVS) was temporarily closed during the holiday period because of infrastructure work, with a shuttle bus service in operation from GVS to and from Lanyon Place.
The 08.47 Antrim-Londonderry on December 28 was terminated at Coleraine and the 14.38 Londonderry-Antrim started from Coleraine. Normal services resumed on January 4 but initially there was some disruption systemwide during the morning because of “earlier engineering works”.
On the Belfast to Londonderry route the 08.10 GVS-Londonderry started from Lanyon Place, while the 08.38 Londonderry-GVS started from Bellarena. Wintry weather on January 5 also saw delays from start of service on this route to around 10.00. The
12.10 GVS-Londonderry started from Lanyon Place, but the departure was delayed by 27 minutes. As a result, an adhoc 13.43 Coleraine-Londonderry ran, formed by the unit that had been in use on the Portrush branch. The 13.45 Coleraine-Portrush and 14.02 return were cancelled.
The Ulsterbus Goldliner service on the Belfast-Coleraine corridor continued to suffer cancellations on a regular basis in early January and bus tickets were valid on Londonderry line trains. The third 4000 Class DMU to be extended to six cars, No. 4015, re-entered revenue earning traffic in early January and is the first unit to sport the new Translink logo. It was reported that the Mk.3 generator van in the consist of the
20.05 Belfast-Connolly on January 8 was failed at Lisburn. The complete train was returned to Lanyon Place and a decision was made to use the train that was working the 19.00 ex-Connolly. After it arrived, passengers were transferred to it and departure for Dublin was at 21.50. The 11.05 Belfast-Connolly on Sunday, January 9, was worked by unit No. 3006.
■ NEWS IN BRIEF:
A £31 million scheme will see track and signalling upgrades in the Cullybackey area of the Belfast-Londonderry line. The project also includes an extension of the platform at Cullybackey and upgrading of three road level crossings.