Belfast’s Great Victoria Street station closing after 200 years

Belfast’s city center train station was closed on Friday as a new public transport hub is due to open later this year.

The last train left Great Victoria Street station at 23:32 BST.

The new transport hub, Belfast Grand Central Station, is not expected to open until the autumn.

Vital infrastructure works are required to connect the rail network to the new hub, which will result in the imminent closure of nearby Great Victoria Street station.

Adjacent European Bus Station will remain open, as will other Belfast stations such as Botanic and Lanyon Place.

Belfast’s Great Victoria Street rail service dates back almost 200 years.

A new station is being built nearby, integrating rail and bus services.

From Saturday, Translink will introduce revised train timetables that will run until the autumn.

The railway is expected to close between Lanyon Place and Lisburn later in the summer.

Replacement buses will be in operation during this period.

Adrian Coren traveled from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, to Great Victoria Street to celebrate the historic day with his son.

“In 1966, I used to come to the old station once a week for work.

“Today feels like a bit of history,” Adrian said.

His son, Ian Collen, commutes to Belfast every day and said he was not worried about his trip being interrupted.

“I’m confident they will do everything they can to accommodate us,” he said.

Ian added that traveling with his father was “lovely”.

The gap between the closure of Great Victoria Street and the opening of the new hub airport will inconvenience many civilian passengers.

Speaking to BBC News NI on Friday morning, one commuter said he had to leave home nearly an hour early to get to work five days a week.

“I have to take the bus now, but the train is still running, so I can’t use my train ticket on the bus.

“But the train doesn’t make it to work on time so I have to take multiple trains and multiple buses,” she explained.

“I understand the work that needs to be done to improve the service and that’s fine, but we should introduce better things for people who can’t get to work afterwards.”

Taylor Lemon, who commutes from Lambeg to Great Victoria Street, said she was unsure how she would travel on the new route.

“I’m still trying to figure everything out,” she said.

“My biggest worry is that the trains to Lisburn will be disrupted at the end of the summer.

“It’s going to be expensive when you consider the cost of fuel and the cost of parking in a safe place.”

In a message to passengers, Translink chief executive Chris Conway said: “We know this will cause some disruption, but Belfast Grand Central is very close to completion. “There is,” he said.

Trains will run as normal on Friday, with the last departure from Belfast’s Great Victoria Street station bound for Bangor at 23:32 BST.

The final service is likely to be popular with rail enthusiasts and historians, as well as general travelers.

Hilton Parr, TransLink’s head of rail customer services, said the closure was a landmark moment.

He said: “This station has been the main railway station in the area for about 185 years.

“It played a key role in several key moments in history, including both world wars, training ambulances in World War I and supporting American troops during D-Day training in World War II. Made it easy.”

The first railway terminus in the area was called Glengall Place and opened in August 1839, providing a service to Lisburn.

In 1852 it was renamed Belfast Victoria Street and in 1856 it was renamed Belfast Great Victoria Street.