Portadown_railway_station

Portadown railway station

Portadown railway station

Railway station in County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Portadown Railway Station serves the town of Portadown in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Quick Facts General information, Location ...

The station is located on the Belfast-Dublin railway line. The original station opened in 1842, and the present station opened in 1970. It is currently NI Railways 5th biggest station with over 925,721 passengers in the year 22/23 [4]

History

The station, c. 1879.

The original Portadown station was sited half a mile east of the present station and opened on 12 September 1842, replacing a temporary station at Seagoe that had opened the preceding year. The Portadown station was moved to the present location in 1848 then reverted to its original site between 1863 and 1970. Goods traffic ceased on 4 January 1965. The present station opened in 1970, replacing a large and largely redundant station.

At the time (1970) the station was called Portadown - Craigavon West, a title that was quietly dropped after the "new city" Craigavon failed to materialise. The layout of the 1970 station was modified in 1997 to allow bi-directional working on all three platforms. The lines to Cavan via Armagh (closed 1957), and Derry via Dungannon and Omagh (closed 1965) diverged immediately west of the present station.[5]

Portadown new station in 1970

In 2012, work began on a major refurbishment of the station. A new, modern building was constructed and a footbridge replaced the subway. The refurbishment was completed in 2013.[6]

Layout

The station has three platforms. After the station upgrade being completed in late May 2013 both platforms 1, 2 and 3 have lifts and have disability access. Platform 3 is usually used for storage of a train but one departs from this platform occasionally towards Great Victoria Street.[citation needed]

Service

This is the terminus for most services from Bangor or Belfast but there are 4 services which continue to Newry Mondays to Saturdays only. There is a half-hourly service to Great Victoria Street, Lanyon Place and Bangor. There is a two hourly Enterprise service to Dublin Connolly or Lanyon Place. On Sundays there is an hourly service to Bangor and no NIR services at all to Newry, although five Enterprise services still operate between these two stations.

This line can be popular with rugby fans connecting at Dublin Connolly for the DART to Lansdowne Road. The line is also used by rail passengers changing at Dublin Connolly onto the DART to Dún Laoghaire for example or travelling to Dublin Port for the Irish Ferries or Stena Line to Holyhead, and then by train along the North Wales Coast Line to London Euston and other destinations in England and Wales.

More information Preceding station, Northern Ireland Railways ...

Future

There is a possibility of re-opening of the line from Portadown to Armagh railway station.[7] Government Minister for the Department for Regional Development, Danny Kennedy MLA indicates railway restoration plans.[8]

The Armagh railway line has been listed in proposed plans to reopen the line.[9]

All-Island Rail Review

The all-island rail review suggested that Portadown become a major interchange between the current Dublin-Belfast Main line, proposed lines such as the single tracked Mullingar-Portadown Line via Armagh, Monaghan, Clones, and Cavan and the dual tracked Derry~Londonderry-Portadown Line via Dungannon, Omagh and Strabane. Portadown would also become an inland freight terminal serving connections to Rosslare Europort, Dublin Port and Larne Harbour.

The All-Island Rail Review also includes 29 other recommendations for railways across the Island of Ireland and it is said that it will take a least 25 years to competed. It would cost in the range of €36.8bn/£30.7bn (as of 2023) and be split between both regions. 75% by the Republic of Ireland and 25% by Northern Ireland. [10][11]

No plans as of February 2024, have gone about implementing this review.

Bus connections

Ulsterbus and Goldliner services operating from Portadown railway station:[12]

More information Preceding station, Ulsterbus ...
  • Class 3000 awaiting departure to Bangor 9 May 2012
  • Cross Border Mail Train in Portadown 15 July 1972
  • The Enterprise Train approaching Portadown from Dublin on the 15 April 2014
  • Portadown Platform 1 and Car Park 28 August 2015
  • Entrance to Portadown Station May 2016
  • The Enterprise Train arriving into Portadown (Craigavon West) from Dublin on 10 June 1972
  • NIR extended 4017 on test after receiving 3 additional intermediate carriages.

References

  1. [1]
    "1862 Railway Station". archiseek.com. archiseek. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  2. [2]
    "iLink Zone information". translink.co.uk. Translink. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  3. [3]
    "NIR Footfall 22-23". Whatdotheyknow. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  4. [4]
    "FOI1317 NIR Footfall 2223.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  5. [5]
    Allen, Jonathan M (2003). 35 Years of N.I.R.: 1967 to 2002. Colourpoint Books.
  6. [6]
    "Translink leads the way in sustainable station development - Global Railway Review". Global Railway Review. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. [7]
    The Ulster Gazette. 16 May 2013
  8. [8]
    "Kennedy has hopes for Armagh line restoration - Portadown Times". Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  9. [9]
    "New lines proposed in Northern Ireland rail plan". railjournal.com. 3 May 2014.
  10. [10]
    "PDF.js viewer" (PDF). www.gov.ie. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  11. [11]
    "Rail review recommends reviving old tracks and raising top train speeds". BreakingNews.ie. 25 July 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  12. [12]
    "Translink". www.translink.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portadown railway station.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Portadown_railway_station, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.