Tractionman

Interestingly the Translink timetable online does not specify, that inf I quoted came from a media report, but it did not say what the notation refers to unfortunately. Correction!! "Service details (* denotes new service) All trains serve Dublin Connolly, Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry, Portadown and Belfast Grand Central. ~denotes also serves Lurgan and Lisburn."

Just seen this Belfast Grand Central to Dublin Connolly: 06:00, 07:00*, 08:00, 09:00*, 10:00, 11:00*, 12:00, 13:00*, 14:00, 15:00*, 16:00, 17:00*, 18:00, 19:00, 21:00* Dublin Connolly to Belfast Grand Central: 05:50*, 06:50, 07:40*, 08:50, 09:50*, 10:50, 11:50*, 12:50, 13:50*, 14:50, 15:50*, 16:50, 17:50*, 18:50, 20:50 Sundays Belfast Grand Central to Dublin Connolly: 08:05~, 10:05, 12:05, 14:05*, 16:05, 17:05, 18:05, 20:05* Dublin Connolly to Belfast Grand Central: 08:50*, 10:50, 12:50, 13:50, 14:50, 16:50, 18:50, 20:50* The expanded service will be operated by the existing Enterprise fleet, trains from Iarnród Éireann’s expanded Intercity railcar fleet, and trains from Translink’s Regional Train fleet. The full timetable is available on the website

Perhaps not so many folks travelling Bangor to Portadown but many more I suspect doing Portadown/Lisburn to Botanic and City Hospital are affected by the termination of all services at GC and having to wait and change for the one or two station stops to continue their journeys? Botanic and City Hospital are big employers for the area, as well as having lots of users, students and patients, the latter in particular I would have thought not welcoming an added change to get to their appointment at hospital... Just anecdotally, I had a student the other day who drove from Dunmurry to Queen's, rather than taking the train, I am sure he's not alone in making that decision to drive into Belfast, and if multiplied up, combined with the various roadworks around the place, we get to the level of traffic chaos we are now seeing in the city centre.

Thanks for the pics, looks impressive especially with the line up of stock across the different platforms, nice to see the Enterprise there too!

Many thanks @Flying Snail that's good to see, I should be more attentive!! I shall study with interest Is there one for the Park Royals as well? cheers, Keith

I do like these formation guides, they help a lot in selecting which stock to acquire, or prioritise! I would love to see one done for Irish rolling stock too--for the 1960s-1990s especially for me--part of the fun is trying to work it out for ourselves from books showing scenes from yesteryear, but often the coaching stock is less visible than the loco, and not all captions are so detailed. With the recent and imminant IRM CIE/IE/IR coaches, I'd love to see something similar done for Ireland cheers, Keith

yes this really is a retrograde step by Translink in my view, even looking at the latest TTs, they are all separate now, so the Bangor TT does not show the connecting Enterprise trains (or onward Portadown services) like it used to, it's a matter of fiddling around with three PDFs (none are printed thee days) and lining up the arrival and departure times! I guess a lot of folks these days will use the Translink online journey planner to join up services, but I'm old fashioned and like to study a proper timetable

hey don't shoot the messenger!! I have no idea, but the Dundalk Rail 'Halt' anachronism has been brought up before in these parts...

There's more folks, listed here--https://clarkrailworks.com/collections/new-arrivals eg https://clarkrailworks.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/silver-fox-oo-cie-class-2600-3-car-dmu-cie-green https://clarkrailworks.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/silver-fox-oo-c-class-b206-diesel-locomotive-1

I see the Bangor line is up https://www.translink.co.uk/timetables?routeHashCode=70fd172c154ac5a62e10594170110f3dd8a833db7887dcba521cd52c91a2a32e&transportMode=Train&route=T0&direction=H and now Portadown line... seems like Translink are popping up the TTs bit by bit... Enterprise also now there from Sunday 13 October 2024 - To Sunday 27 October 2024:

I've taken to driving to Newry and using the massive car park at the station and getting the Enterprise south from there, though I'd rather get the train all the way from Bangor...

Yes no sign of any timetables yet. Rail n Sail Glasgow to Dublin, too late now I know but is routing via Holyhead an option or is it always Stena from Cairnryan?

Well today's the day apparently: A new rail timetable will be in place on the Translink website from 7 October. Let's see...

the latest https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3wd98d2n2o Translink Group Chief Executive Chris Conway said: “We are pleased to announce that good progress has been made on the Rail Safety Certification process. “While our teams across Translink and Department for Infrastructure will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the completion of this process, we are now taking appropriate steps to plan the start of rail services from Grand Central Station on Sunday, 13th October.” He added: “The launch of an hourly Enterprise service between the island’s two capital cities is being planned for Tuesday, 29th October.”

taking the long view, if there is going to be investment on the Belfast-Dublin route, an inland alternative alignment makes good sense, the coastal areas are vulnerable, and if by 2100 we actually do get the new line the last thing we need is for it to then disappear into the Irish Sea... https://www.gsi.ie/en-ie/programmes-and-projects/marine-and-coastal-unit/projects/Pages/Coastal-Vulnerability-Index.aspx