Portrush railway station

Portrush railway station is the terminus of the Coleraine-Portrush railway line and serves the seaside town of Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Portrush
NIR Class 3000 train at Portrush in 2012
Location	Portrush Northern Ireland
Coordinates	55.202554°N 6.653696°W
Owned by	NI Railways
Operated by	NI Railways
Platforms	3
Tracks	4
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Key dates
1855	Station opened
1954	Goods traffic ceased
2008	Station refurbished
2018	Re-development works and ticket office replacement
NI Railways Translink NI railway stations

History

The station in the 1890s, with tramway in foreground

NIR Class 80 train at Portrush in 2000

The station, which is 67¾ miles from Belfast, was opened on 4 December 1855.[1] To accommodate excursion and holiday traffic, extensive reconstruction by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, under the direction of its engineer and architect Berkeley Deane Wise, was completed in 1893. Three platforms were provided (only one is now in regular use) together with a train shed (demolished) and a station building in a "half-timbered" Mock Tudor style with a clock tower, described by Currie as "certainly one of the most handsome railway buildings in Ireland";[2] it is now occupied by a retail unit,[3] with a small newer concrete block ticket office behind it serving as the current station building. Goods traffic to the station closed on 20 September 1954.[1]

The large 1892 grandfather clock from the station was returned to Portrush in 2007 and is displayed in Barry's Amusements complex[4] adjacent to the station. Other survivals from the past are some semaphore signals (of the "somersault" type) and an early water tank.

Formerly the railway owned the Northern Counties Hotel, the largest visitor accommodation in the town. The Giant's Causeway Tramway began in Eglinton Street alongside the station.

A single branch line was built from the station to Portrush harbour in 1866. It closed in 1949. Part of this line is now a pedestrian walkway; a footbridge has replaced the railway's former harbour bridge.

Modernisation

In 2018, a Construction company was appointed as the Principal Contractor to carry out development works to Portrush Station. The works will involve demolition of the existing ticket office in order to replace it with a larger, modern station building. The platforms will undergo an extension to accommodate more commuter access. New steel canopies will be installed to Platform 1 and to central Platforms 2 and 3. The boundary walls on Eglinton Street will be replaced with newly constructed, stone-clad walls. Works to the new station commenced in April 2018.

The train station is to form part of the regeneration of Portrush town. The new station is due to be completed in Spring 2019 ahead of The Open in 2019.[5]

Service

Monday to Friday, first 2 trains from Portrush are through trains to Great Victoria street. The rest of the day, an hourly service operates to Coleraine.

On Saturdays, the first train from Portrush is a through train to Great Victoria street. The rest of the day, an hourly service operates to Coleraine.

On Sundays, there is an hourly service to Coleraine, with the service extending to Great Victoria street every two hours.

Monday to Sunday, all passengers for Castlerock, Belarena and Londonderry must change at Coleraine.

Ulsterbus services connect Portrush to nearby Portstewart and Bushmills.

References

1. "Portrush station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
2. Currie, J. R. L. (1973). The Northern Counties Railway, vol. 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5934-7.
3. "Club soi". Archived from the original on 6 August 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
4. "Barry's Portrush". Retrieved 22 July 2007.
5. Translink. "New Portrush Train Station Development - Translink". www.translink.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

External links

• Media related to Portrush railway station at Wikimedia Commons