Structure type At-grade 2008 Station refurbished Opened 1855 Owner NI Railways Platforms in use 3 | Operated by NI Railways 1954 Goods traffic ceased Province Ulster | |
Similar Coleraine railway station, Dhu Varren railway station, Antrim railway station, Ballymena railway station, Mossley West railway st | ||
Portrush railway station is the terminus of the Coleraine-Portrush railway line and serves the seaside town of Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Contents
History
The station, which is 67¾ miles from Belfast, was opened on 4 December 1855. To accommodate excursion and holiday traffic, extensive reconstruction by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, under the direction of its engineer and architect Berkeley Deane Wise, was completed in 1893. Three platforms were provided (only one is now in regular use) together with a train shed (demolished) and a station building in a "half-timbered" Mock Tudor style with a clock tower, described by Currie as "certainly one of the most handsome railway buildings in Ireland"; it is now occupied by a retail unit, with a small newer concrete block ticket office behind it serving as the current station building. Goods traffic to the station closed on 20 September 1954.
The large 1892 grandfather clock from the station was returned to Portrush in 2007 and is displayed in Barry’s Amusements complex adjacent to the station. Other survivals from the past are some semaphore signals (of the "somersault" type) and an early water tank.
Formerly the railway owned the Northern Counties Hotel, the principal such establishment in town. A line once continued beyond the station to serve the harbour, and the Giant's Causeway Tramway began in Eglinton Street alongside the station.
Current Service
From Monday to Saturday, an hourly service operates from Portrush. Trains alternate every hour between shuttle services to Coleraine, and through services to Great Victoria Street. The shuttle services connect with trains to and from Londonderry Waterside at Coleraine.
On Sunday, there are no through services to Belfast, and only a shuttle service operates to Coleraine every two hours. Passengers intending for stations elsewhere on the Belfast-Derry railway line must change trains at Coleraine.
Ulsterbus services connect Portrush to nearby Portstewart and Bushmills.