Enterprise service marks 75th anniversary

AUGUST 11 marked the 75th anniversary of the introduction of the Enterprise services from Belfast Great Victoria Street station to Dublin Amiens

Street station (renamed Dublin Connolly in 1966). Introduced by the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), the first train departed at 10.30am on August 11, 1947 and ran as a nonstop prestige express service with customs checks at either end (rather than at the previous mid-points of Goraghwood and Dundalk) – running Monday to Saturday with a journey time of 2¼ hours.

Operation

Today, the Enterprise is operated jointly by Iarnród Éireann and Translink offers 16 departures daily, eight in either direction (Monday to Saturday) and 10 departures on Sundays. The Enterprise Strategic Development Plan seeks approval to start procurement of new fleet and fund a detailed technical and feasibility study for journey time improvement options, with the aspiration to deliver an hourly Belfast-Dublin service within five years, with a journey time of less than two hours. Longer term, additional improvements could be achieved with investment in line electrification to achieve further frequency improvements and a journey time of potentially 90 mins or less.

FINBAR O’NEILL IE’s 201 Class No. 227 crosses the viaduct at Balbriggan working the 07.35 Connolly-Belfast Enterprise service on July 14. The service is Ireland’s only named service and has been operating for 75 years.