Lisburn railway station

History

The station was opened on 12 August 1839 by the Ulster Railway. The station buildings were rebuilt in 1878 to designed by William Henry Mills, for the then newly formed Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNRI).

On 20 December 1978, there was a fatal collision between two trains. The fire brigade attended and cut out the person killed from the wreckage. A number of other people were treated for minor injuries and shock.

Current building

It has been renovated, with a new waiting area on platform 1, new toilets and vending machines. addition, on platforms 2 and 3, a coffee shop operates on weekday mornings, to accommodate commuters travelling towards Belfast. To make the station more accessible, lifts have been installed on each platform.

In addition to Lisburn being a stop off on the Bangor to Portadown line, platform 3 is used in peak times for an extra service - Lisburn to Bangor - and stops at all halts between here and Great Victoria Street. After calling at Belfast Central these services operate semi-fast to Bangor calling at only Holywood and Bangor West. Platform 2 is used for the express, non-stop service to Great Victoria Street. This means journey times between Lisburn and Great Victoria Street are reduced to only 11 minutes at peak times, which has attracted many more commuters than before. Despite the timetable stating the time between the two station non-stop as 11 minutes, some trains can achieve the journey in as little as 8 minutes; an average speed of around 60 mph.

Station House

There is a station house built in Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNR) style. It is now in private ownership.

NI Digital Film Archive

The NI Digital Film Archive holds a clip of black and white film. It was made in 1897 and was filmed from a moving train going through Lisburn Railway Station on the way from Belfast to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), Dublin. The name of the station can be seen and in addition, the view includes the platform, train carriages, station buildings and large houses along the length of North Circular Road, Lisburn.

Service

Mondays to Saturdays there is a half-hourly service towards Portadown or Newry in one direction, and to Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central or Bangor in the other. Extra services run at peak times, and the service reduces to hourly operation in the evenings.

Following platform extension work, there are now three Enterprise services to Dublin Connolly or Belfast Central each day. Previously, one Enterprise train called at Lisburn on Sundays only.

Certain peak time trains also run as expresses between here and Great Victoria Street.

On Sundays there is an hourly NIR service in each direction.

Enterprise connections

The Enterprise can be popular with rugby fans connecting at Dublin Connolly for the DART to Lansdowne Road. The line is also used by rail passengers changing at Dublin Connolly onto the DART to Dún Laoghaire for example or travelling to Dublin Port for the Irish Ferries or Stena Line to Holyhead, and then by train along the North Wales Coast Line to London Euston and other destinations in England and Wales.

Former services

Until 2003, Lisburn was also a stop on the Belfast-Derry railway line. However, in 2001, the Bleach Green route (via Mossley and Templepatrick) was re-opened, after being closed in 1978. This provided a faster route for Derry Line trains than the Lisburn-Antrim line. A skeleton service was operated on this line until 2003, when passenger services were withdrawn. The other reason why the line was cut was because of the congestion on the route which caused considerable problems with the Enterprise Service for over 20 years. The line itself is still maintained for rolling stock transfers and emergency diversions.

Passengers now wishing to travel to destinations on the Londonderry Line can no longer travel directly from Lisburn station, and must travel to Great Victoria Street to change trains.

Former lines

The Ulster Railway brought trains from Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station to Portadown and Armagh railway station in Armagh. Later the Great Northern Railway of Ireland had a much more extensive system with trains to Omagh, Enniskillen, Bundoran, Strabane and Derry being linked, which in the 1950s and 1960s was closed west of Portadown.

Future lines

There is a possibility of reopening the line to Antrim and possible reopening of the line from Portadown to Armagh railway station in Armagh. The Armagh Line has been listed in proposed plans to reopen the line.