At least there's some historical reason to call it that! Makes me feel a bit better towards the name.It's in a slightly different place to the current station, but mostly a PR thing i guess
Belfast Transport Hub to be called Grand Central Station
The site will replace the current Europa bus centre and Great Victoria Street rail station.www.bbc.co.uk
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Belfast Dublin Enterprise service upgrade funded
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FormerBritInMe
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Of course the one in New York City is actually Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Station was the name for the Post Office on Lexington Avenue at E 45th Street.
8 platforms may be Grand in an Irish context but is no match for Grand Central Terminal (US) 44 platforms and 67 tracks
Well you'd expect a city with more than 20x the population of Belfast to have a much larger station.Of course the one in New York City is actually Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Station was the name for the Post Office on Lexington Avenue at E 45th Street.
8 platforms may be Grand in an Irish context but is no match for Grand Central Terminal (US) 44 platforms and 67 tracks
The annual passenger volume of 67m for Grand Central isn't very impressive though for all that station infrastructure. I suspect that it's severly lacking in track capacity outside of the station and that's the bottleneck on passenger numbers? Gare du Nord does 3x the passenger volume with less station infrastructure resources.
Certainly psychologically nearer the centre (to a first time visitor). Lanyon Place seemed to be in the back of beyond.
Yes. Currently the concourse at Great Victoria Street is too congested and the exit via Europa interchange is not spacious. Hopefully the actual walk from the platforms to the City Hall will be around the same as it is today, with far less congested and more direct access between platform and street.
If you're travelling on the Enterprise via Irish Rail to Belfast then a transfer via bus to the city centre is included or instead a train to the Titanic Quarter.
Though I was never clear if a return ticket meant a transfer back to Lanyon Place was included with a return ticket. I never risked it going back.
FormerBritInMe
Member
Remember that the station was originally built for intercity service as well. In the "golden age" of US passenger travel there were numerous New York Central trains to Albany and other points west to Chicago, plus many New Haven Railroad trains to Boston and Springfield MA. Under Amtrak what remains of those trains currently operate to Penn Station. So the station today probably has excess platform capacity.
As a note those numbers don't include the recent addition of the LIRR Grand Central Madison platforms. Of course overall patronage is still down post COVID.
Agreed, just trying to be funny (and failing). This is definitely a step forward for Belfast providing more capacity plus bringing the Enterprise under the same roof as the local NIR trains.
Yes, it is included in both directions with a return ticket. All staff are well aware of it.
As well as Titanic Quarter, you can also use your ticket to travel by train to Yorkgate free of charge. At Yorkgate, a free bus transfer to Ulster University's Belfast Campus and the City Centre is available for holders of valid rail tickets.
Rail travel to Great Victoria Street, City Hospital and Botanic is also permitted at no extra cost - depending on the day and time it may be quicker to change at Portadown or double back from Lanyon Place, both are allowed.
Cheers. Very useful to know.
City centre stations in the US tend to have bloated platform numbers because of the lack of through-running infrastructure and services - Philadelphia is IIRC the sole exception. NY is a rather aggravating example because Amtrak trains through-run through Penn Station, but commuter trains don't since that would mean running onto another agency's turf.
