Antrim railway station

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Antrim
General information
Location	Antrim, County Antrim Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°43′06″N6°12′41″W / 54.7182°N 6.2115°W / 54.7182; -6.2115
Owned by	NI Railways
Operated by	NI Railways
Platforms	4 (2 disused)
Tracks	4
Bus stands	4
Bus operators	Ulsterbus and Goldline services
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	Park and Ride
Bicycle facilities	Bicycle parking is available
Accessible	Ramps and lifts
Architect	Berkeley Deane Wise
History
Rebuilt	1901-02
Key dates
11 April 1848	Station opens
1871	Station renamed Antrim Junction
by July 1922	Renamed Antrim
1965	Goods traffic ceased
2008	Refurbished
Passengers
2022/23	519,674 [1]
Location Antrim Location within Northern Ireland

Antrim railway station opened 1848 and serves the town of Antrim in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

The station currently serves trains on the Belfast to Derry line via Bleach Green and York Street station. Until 2003, Belfast-Derry trains reached here by means of the Lisburn-Antrim railway line, however, this line was mothballed after re-opening of the Bleach Green line. There is still the old platform for the Lisburn-Antrim line but has been cut back to allow room, on the other side of a fence, for the bus stands. The possibility of reopening it as a circular route, with a halt at Aldergrove for Belfast International Airport has been discussed. The station has undergone a major refurbishment to become an integrated bus and rail hub. In total, the station had 4 platforms. One is completely disused, two in use, and one that has been shortened and rarely used.

History

Antrim station was opened by the Belfast and Ballymena Railway on 11 April 1848.^{[ citation needed ]} It was originally operated by the Midland Railway Northern Counties Committee. They provided sidings on the up side of the station, serving the Showgrounds. These sidings also contained a goods store, stabling block, stationmaster's house, office, and weighbridge.

The station buildings at Antrim were rebuilt in 1901–02 to designs by the architect Berkeley Deane Wise. It was built in a red-brick, mock-Tudor design. The footbridge was built by Walter MacFarlane's Saracen Foundry in Glasgow. ^[3]

The main station buildings were on the down platform, and the signal box was at the Belfast end of the same platform. There was a bay at the back of the down line platform for branch line trains, and also on this side of the mainline were the locomotive sheds, turntable, goods store, and sidings.

The station was run by the Ulster Transport Authority from 1948 to 1968, then part of Northern Ireland Railways. Since 1996 the station has been part of Translink.

The station itself used to also have a Station Masters House and Goods Yards. The last known Station Master of Antrim Railway Station (Antrim Junction) was a Mr. Cupples. At its peak, Antrim Railway Station was an important station linking many core routes now removed via its station.

The Station Masters House can still be seen (from outside). It has now been transformed into a health centre.

Service

On Mondays to Saturdays, there is an hourly service to Belfast Lanyon Place in Belfast. In the other direction, there is an hourly service Derry~Londonderry, with the last service terminating at Coleraine.

On Sundays, services alternate between Derry~Londonderry or Portrush and the last service terminating at Coleraine. In the other direction, there is an hourly service to Belfast Lanyon Place.

The third platform for the Crumlin line is not signposted and has not been in passenger service since a diversion from the Bleach Green Line in 2014.

Preceding station		Northern Ireland Railways		Following station
Mossley West		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry		Ballymena
	Disused railways
Crumlin		Northern Ireland Railways Lisburn–Antrim		Terminus
	Proposed
Templepatrick		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry		Ballymena
	Historical railways
Muckamore Line open, station closed		Belfast and Ballymena Railway York Road-Ballymena		Cookstown Junction Line open, station closed

NIR 4002 arriving into Antrim on a service to Derry~Londonderry

See also

• Antrim railway station (Great Northern Railway)

References

1. "FOI1317 NIR Footfall 2223.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
2. "FOI Footfall 2023 2024 figures PDF.pdf". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 7 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
3. The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland. William Alan McCutcheon, Northern Ireland. Department of the Environment. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN   978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC   228266687.