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DfI’s difficult relationship with Active Travel Projects

According to campagn groups the DfI is not on track to meet Active Travel spending targets.

Image by John Knight, CC BY 2.0 license via Flickr

1.2.2025
BBC News


26.11.2024
Armagh I

Lurgan linkages

Design concepts have been delivered for regenerating linkages (alleyways, coutyards etc.) in Lurgan.


Assembly committee gathers information on All-island Strategic Rail Review

Assembly members attempt to gain clarity on projects’ progress.

6.11.2024
Northern Ireland Assembly


26.10.2024
BBC News

Titanic Quarter to Bangor ferry start delayed

The start date of the ferry link has been delayed to Autumn 2025.


24.10.2024
Armagh I

Image from Armagh I


13.10.2024
BBC News

Grand Central Station rail services begin

Just over a month after Grand Central station opened for bus services, rail services commence.


Grand Central Station bus services begin

Grand Central station has opened with bus services using the station.

8.9.2024
BBC News


23.8.2024
X

Moira Park & Ride finally approved?

According to a Translink post on X, reposted by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, planning permission has been granted for the Park & Ride. How this ties in with previous issues and when building will commence is unclear.



All-Island Strategic Rail Review final version finally published

31.7.2024

Long in the making, the final report is now available here.


4.7.2024
FutureTransport-News

Electric high-speed ferry unveiled for Isle of Wight route

Meanwhile, all is quiet on the Titanic Quarter to Bangor ferry service to be operated with a similar ferry.


Preliminary works commence for the Lagan pedestrian and cycle bridge

These are geotechnical investigations “needed to inform the design and construction of the Lagan pedestrian and cycle bridge before it can progress further”.

24.6.2024
X


19.6.2024


Insufficient funding for Glider North/South route

Brendan Hughes reveals on X that funding is far from complete for a Glider North/South route.

19.6.2024
X



Start date announced for hourly Enterprise service together with timetable proposals

Irish Rail have proposed a timetable for the hourly Enterprise service with a start date of 7th October. There will however be no late night services.

30.5.2024
NEWRY.IE

Image author unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 license via Wikimedia Commons



29.4.2024
BBC News


28.4.2024
BBC News

Rollout of train station ticket machines begins

The first tickets have begun being sold at a train stations using new vending machines.



Dublin-Belfast train to take less than two hours and run hourly after multimillion investment

9.4.2024
Irish Times

Funding totalling €165 million towards the scheme from the Peace Plus programme has been announced.

Image author unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 license via Wikimedia Commons


9.3.2024
Belfast Telegraph (paywall)

Image author unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 license via Wikimedia Commons

Enterprise improvements and NI access to Irish fares and reservations investigated

Sam McBride talks to Translink in-depth about plans for the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service. The article presents how the increase in frequency will be realised with existing train stock, that reservations should soon be possible for journeys booked via Translink and that the aspiration is there for equal prices for IE vs. Translink customers. The article also discusses the bigger plan for electrification in the future.


Pedestrian/cycle bridge across the Bann at ‘detailed design stage’

ArmaghI reports on the progress of plans to bridge the Bann at Bannfoot, which would remove a massive detour for cyclists wishing to bike around Lough Neagh.

6.3.2024
Armagh I

Image by Alastair Rae, CC BY-SA 2.0 license via Flickr


Assembly debates and passes motion in support of All-Island Rail Network

27.2.2024

The motion text included these aspirational words: “this Assembly recognises the transformative impact that expansion of an all-island rail network will have on communities across Ireland;… further acknowledges that investing in high quality rail is critical to reaching net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050”. The full text and debate are available on YouTube. A lot was said about Fermanagh’s absence from the rail review, a topic taken up by the Fermanagh Herald. Another interesting point to come up was the assertion that the restored “Derry Road” link to Derry-Londonderry would have a speed of 200km/h (approx. 125 mph). This was then taken up by the Belfast Newsletter, who pulled in an academic opinion that 200 km/h is too fast to connect two cities with, although the international definition for high-speed rail has a lower limit of 200 km/h and 125 mph has been standard in the UK for decades.


27.2.2024
Fermanagh Herald

Image from SLNCR Greenway

Major funding announced for Enniskillen to Sligo greenway

Amidst all the talk about rail and the lack of rail to Fermanagh, plans to build a greenway along, or roughly along the rail route from Enniskillen to Sligo have made significant progress.


Funding for hourly enterprise service and Narrow Water Bridge announced

The Irish Government has announced a major funding package for projects in Northern Ireland.

20.2.2024
New Civil Engineer

Image author unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 license via Wikimedia Commons


Active travel scheme along the Shore Road and Main Street in Toomebridge

9.2.2024

Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd has announced that work is to commence on a £320,000 shared footway/cycleway scheme on Shore Road/Main Street in Toomebridge.


Returning rail to Fermanagh

The Irish News reports on a campaign to receive commitment from Stormont party leaders for returning rail to Fermanagh, which would be the only county in the UK and Ireland without a rail connection under the current AISRR recommendations.

22.01.2024
Irish News

Image from Charles Friel via Belfast Live


No scheme approved for
Moira Park & Ride

7.2.2024

The Newsletter reports on neither of two potential schemes for a park and ride facility for Moira station gaining approval.


Ferry operator for Titantic Quarter to Bangor service in financial difficulties

We can only hope that Condor Ferries recover from this “temporary but challenging time”. Condor Ferries are supposed to be running a future Titanic Quarter to Bangor ferry.

16.12.2023
ITV News


07.12.2023

UK Government announces bumper funding package for NI rail projects

As part of the financial response to the Union Connectivity Review, the UK government is to fund feasibility studies for the Belfast-Dublin line electrification (to the border), the Portadown-Armagh extension and reopening of the Knockmore line with a station at Belfast International Airport.


Plans released for redevelopment of Lurgan train station

Things are finally becoming a bit more concrete concerning the redevelopment of Lurgan train station. Armagh I reports.

25.10.2023

Image from Armagh I


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New designs for Titanic Quarter to Bangor ferry released

27.09.2023

New designs have been released for Condor’s 100% electric ferry designed by Artemis technologies in Belfast. The passenger-only service is due to start in 2024 with a journey time of around 30 minutes.


How are new rail networks boosting the economy?

22.09.2023

The New Statesman takes a look at the lasting benefits to the economy of investments in rail.


New ‘SailRail’ route to France from Ireland

The Journal

An integrated ticket is now available from Cork or (of more interest to NI residents) Dublin to Cherbourg or Roscoff in France. In the other direction a partial-refund-style discount is still offered to passengers who have arrived by rail, as was previously the case in Ireland too.

08.09.2023

Image source: Flickr / Gary Bembridge / CC-BY-2.0 DEED license


All-Ireland funding sought for Titanic Quarter-Sailortown bridge

18.08.2023
BBC News NI

Belfast is to apply for Shared Island Initiative funding in a partnership with Cork to fund the Sailortown to Titanic Quarter Bridge.


Translink: First zero-emission buses hit streets of Derry

BBC News NI

BBC News reports on new zero-emission buses in Londonderry and on Translink’s intention to make Derry one of the first UK cities to have a completely zero-emissions bus fleet.

09.08.2023

Image source: BBC News NI/Translink


07.08.2023
Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council

Council ‘recommends for approval’ £23 million redevelopment of Lisburn site

There has been another development after a long-line of false-starts1,2 around Lisburn West station. Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) have recommended approval for a housing development adjacent to the site of the proposed station. In the same announcement they write that the station is to be finished “by 2025”. Apparently, the plans are low on parking spaces (by conventional counting), which ought to mean the two developments will have to go hand-in-hand.

1. Wikipedia: Lisburn West railway station
2. Irish News, 2019: Plans resurrected for Lisburn train halt beside proposed 1,300 home residential development


What does the AISRR mean for Armagh?

26.07.2023

Armagh I reports on what the All-Island Strategic Rail Review means for the Portadown-Armagh rail link, now that the connection was recommended as part of a larger route all the way to Mullingar.

Image from Armagh I


All-Island Strategic Rail Review finally released

25.07.2023

The All-Island Strategic Rail Review has finally been released, despite the absence of a functioning Northern Irish government. The key recommendations for NI are rail links to the International Airport (i.e. reopen the Lisburn to Antrim line), from Portadown to Derry-Londonderry (with a connecting line to Letterkenny), Portadown to Armagh (and on to Clones, Cavan and Mullingar), Lisburn (area) to Newry via Banbridge as well as increasing capacity between Belfast and Lisburn, ideally via a new tunnel. There is an emphasis on decarbonising transport, shifting freight to rail and separating regional and long-distance passenger traffic.


More details emerge on plan to reopen the Fleetwood line

29.06.2023
Blackpool Gazette

The UK government has given more details on how the railway line to Fleetwood is to be reopened as a tram-train service that will be able to run all the way to the ferry terminal. Stena Line ran a ferry service from Belfast to Larne until 2010. Perhaps one day we will see a fast rail/sail service between Belfast and Manchester via Larne and Fleetwood!?


19.06.2023
Twitter Thread

Informative meeting with Translink Executives

FundTheNine talks to five Translink executives about the future of our railways. It gives a good idea of priorities and potential timescales, but will be dependent on necessary funding.


Why has Ireland’s cross-border railway plan gone off track?

BBC News examines why the All-Ireland Rail Review still hasn’t been published and gives a glimpse into what the future could hold if politicians take the necessary steps forward.

11.06.2023
BBC News NI


Moira ‘park and ride’ facility with over 400 spaces to be ‘priority’ for new council

Armagh I reports on what is delaying the Park & Ride facility at Moira – the main problem seems to be acquiring land.

Image from Armagh I


03.03.2023
BBC News NI

Knockmore Line: Translink to assess reopening closed railway line

A detailed look from BBC News on the prospects of reopening the Knockmore Line now that a feasibility study is due to be carried out.