Enterprise: Hourly rail service between Belfast and Dublin begins

A new hourly train service between Belfast and Dublin started from Belfast’s Grand Central Station on Tuesday, but some residents in a County Armagh town have said there is a knock-on effect on traffic.

Fifteen services will operate in each direction between Belfast and Dublin from Mondays to Saturdays and eight services each way on Sundays.

Funding of €25m for the project has been provided by the Department of Transport, the Irish government and the Shared Island Fund.

However, concerns have been raised that more cross-border Enterprise services will lead to even more congestion in Lurgan, which some residents feel is already being left behind in terms of transport infrastructure.

Translink has said there is an investment plan for Lurgan.

Jim Conway, from Lurgan, told BBC News NI that more trains passing through the town will cause disruption due to the increase frequency with which level crossing barriers will be closed.

“I just think that it’s very poor planning,” he said.

“There’s three level crossings here in Lurgan, so if you add up 15 journeys each way… that’s 90 roadblocks a day in Lurgan.”

“The irony of it is, the local people here can’t get access to that service.”

Mr Conway said that a “flyover” was needed.

Stephen Moore, who also has objections said “the issue is the town needs to breathe, and its not able to breath at the moment with these blockages”.

However Chris Conway, Translink’s chief executive, said “we’ve done very careful timetable planning for this service”.

“The increase in barrier time at Lurgan is about three to four minutes over the hour, so we’ve minimised that disruption,” he told the BBC’s Good morning Ulster programme.

“We have an investment plan for Lurgan.

“So we have a new station planned for Lurgan, new park and ride and also a change to signalling system there which would reduce barrier time even from the current time.”

Some rail passengers in Dublin have also complained that the new early-morning Enterprise service is causing upheaval for Dublin commuter town passengers travelling into the city.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said the introduction of the hourly service is a “really, really important day for the all island economy, for the island of Ireland, from a public transport point of view”.

He said the move would make a “real difference”.

Stormont infrastructure minister John O’Dowd said the expanded service “offers opportunities to drive jobs and growth, stimulate development and regeneration and boost access to services and education”.

He also said that the move with “help decarbonise transport and encourage behavioural shift to public transport”.

O’Dowd also promised to “continue to be ambitious around our rail network”, adding that he looks forward “to a future where people across this island, in particular those in rural areas, have greater access to rail travel”.

Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann, Jim Meade said that the “future is bright for the Enterprise”, pointing to a project underway to provide new rolling stock for the service by the end of the decade.