Video took longer to edit than I would have liked because I'm still recovering from an illness (you can hear my voice is still quite croakey in the video) but here it is, enjoy!
Hope you get better soon - and hopefully in the future, you can get to visit the Republic of Ireland - there is a Railway Museum near Galway in the West of Ireland that is highly recommended if you want to know more about our Irish railway history 🇮🇪☘️🇬🇧😍😍😍😍
@@michaeljohndennis2231 Thank you for your concern, I'm feeling mostly better now but probably won't be 100% for a few days. I actually did pass through Dublin on my way to Belfast (having caught the ferry across from Holyhead) but sadly didn't have time to explore much else in Ireland. I think a proper visit is called for at some point in the future!
@@MikeWillSee I have extended family in Rural Ireland at age 54 and I come home on SailRail in my 23 years living in Manchester via Chester, Crewe, Bangor or Lladnuo and Holyhead - during the train strike on arrival off the Irish Ferries Ulysses from Dublin in October 2022, I was stranded in Holyhead for 2 days, unable to get back to Manchester - it really bugs me that there are very few direct trains from Manchester to Holyhead and I hate Platform 13 at Manchester Piccadilly with a passion, as my nearest station is Manchester Victoria and dealing with the Manchester Metrolink Trams is a real hassle, then getting tickets and information with heavy luggage, up and down escalators and stairs is a real pain - changing trains at Chester is a real pain, as you have to go from one end of the station to the other, often with only 6 mins to change trains, so I use Northern from Victoria to Chester and Avanti from Chester to Holyhead, as it’s far less hassle
@@michaeljohndennis2231 The intention of the powers that be is to take as much private traffic off the road as possible. Unfortunately they don't do every much to make the alternatives user friendly and comfortable. Britain really is becoming a take it or leave it third world dump.
I knew I recognised you when I saw you with that big camera on Sunday! One thing I will note, the modern Great Victoria Street Station that was replaced was only situated on part of the site for the original Great Victoria Street Station. The original GVS Station was demolished in the 70s, which led to the NIR termini being moved to Belfast Central (not Lanyon Place). It wasn't untill the mid 1990s when Translink was created and then decided to build a new station in the city centre, naming it after its predecessor. Great video! Also, spotted the back of my noggin at 5:58! 🤣
@@MikeWillSee No worries! Most people, inlcuding Northern Irish people, would never have known either! Even the media gets it wrong 😬 Hopefully you'll come back for the first train to the Internatioanl Airport when we get there!
I'm Australian. In 2014 I travelled on the Enterprise from Dublin Connolly to the station then called "Belfast Central" and changed there for the train to Derry~Londonderry. I'm pretty sure that a few years later I noticed that the station I knew as "Belfast Central" was renamed Lanyon Place.
Regarding rail gauges: at least the different gauges on the island of Ireland and in Great Britain are separated by the Irish Sea. In pre-Federation Australia, Victoria opted for broad/Irish gauge, NSW for standard/British/Stephenson gauge and Queensland, solely to save costs, came up with its own narrow gauge (1067mm). While standard gauge was eventually adopted for interstate travel, it has been superseded by air travel making Melbourne-Sydney the fifth busiest passenger flight route in the world.
Is there a bar? I didn’t seen one. 😢 There was a Starbucks! 😊 It’s clever that they’re opening this thing in a piecemeal fashion; the media, vloggers, etc. all arrive for the opening of the bus terminal, then the first train; the grand opening of the second floor looks like it may merit an opening too. They’re doing a good job with their publicity machine.
I don't think they're opening it piecemeal for marketing reasons. It's just that it takes longer to implement a new railway station than a bus station. The external safety authorities in relation to rail do a lot of checking, involving drivers and signallers, first on the simulator and then in real life at each of the three junctions. The railway station and its associated rail network was the first to be completed but the last to be allowed to open.
With reference to the track gauge. I seem to remember watching a YT video years ago about the different gauge in NI, it came about because they had a choice of 2 gauges, I presume one was the standard gauge and the other something else of a wider gauge.No one could make their minds up, which gauge to run on, so they decided on a measurement halfway between the 2 different gauges. So wider than standard gauge and narrower of the other wider gauge on offer. As I say, it is something from memory, so needs confirmation as to the facts of the story.
"about the different gauge in NI" There isn't a different gauge in NI from the rest of the island. The standard gauge for the island of Ireland was established long before Northern Ireland came into existence in 1922. There never was another standard gauge for the island of Ireland other than 5 foot 3 inches. I believe that there were two competitors for the Irish standard gauge, namely 5 foot 0 inches and 5 foot 6 inches, and 5 foot 3 inches was chosen.
Only criticism is Platforms seemed narrow . Are they gonna keep only letting people in when the train's there? Also I don't think those canopies will keep the weather off. Otherwise impressive . Also I liked Lisburn station, as a contrast .
The standard track gauge on all mainline railways on the island of Ireland was defined in the earlier parts of the 1800s, more than a century before Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnród Éireann were founded. NIR and IÉ are modern companies established after the 1960s, and they each inherited the existing all-Ireland track gauge of 5 foot 3 inches.
Living in Manchester myself, I’m more inclined to get the train from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime St, get the Liverpool (Birkenhead) to Belfast Ferry, then get to this station for the Enterprise train to Dublin, instead of the Holyhead to Dublin ferry
Yeah that's definitely a fun way of doing it, but is probably quite a lot slower than going via Holyhead, especially as there is actually a direct Holyhead - Manchester train operated by TfW!
I would have preferred them to have called the station 'Belfast Weavers Cross' ... so Ireland's version of King's Cross. There are too many Grand Centrals...
Unfortunately, yes. It would make no sense to electrify it as it currently stands because none of the lines running into it are electrified. With that said, there are plans to electrify the lines through Belfast as set out in the All Island Strategic Rail Review, but these are of course subject to funding and needing to be signed off by politicians, so we'll just have to hope that they see sense and the long-overdue electrification happens some time soon!
Nice station, just need to improve the Track between Belfast-Dublin. Its 87 miles and it takes 2 hours 15 mins to travel between Belfast-Dublin. Thats about 30 MPH
It's not the quality of track that's a limiting issue so much as the need for triple or quadruple track in parts of the congested Dublin area and also, to a lesser extent in the Belfast area. (Quadruple track is now in existence over about 5 miles of route out of Heuston Station.) Incidentally, it's considerably more than 87 miles between Belfast Grand Central and Dublin Connolly Stations.
Lovely but tbh it’s not huge. Some of the stations in London have 20 platforms with long trains constantly coming in and out. I thought they might have more platforms tbh. Good to see they have ticket barriers. I just wish they’d dual most of our network otherwise this is pointless.
Well yes it's not that large by London standards, but it is the biggest interchange on the island of Ireland, and for a city of 350,000 people, 8 platforms is quite a lot! In any case, it's certainly the largest 'new' station I've been to (apart from maybe Crossrail) but you're right that further investment will be needed in the rest of the network in order for it to achieve its full potential!
Given that there are 8 train platforms and more than 20 bus stances, the station is neither too big nor too small. For numerous reasons, this station is NOT pointless, even with the single tracking of much of the rail network.
@@MikeWillSee "it is the biggest interchange on the island of Ireland" From a railway perspective it isn't quite the biggest, insofar as Dublin's Heuston Station with 9 platforms is bigger. When Translink talks about GCS being the biggest, it's referring to the combination of rail and bus.
Video took longer to edit than I would have liked because I'm still recovering from an illness (you can hear my voice is still quite croakey in the video) but here it is, enjoy!
Hope you get better soon - and hopefully in the future, you can get to visit the Republic of Ireland - there is a Railway Museum near Galway in the West of Ireland that is highly recommended if you want to know more about our Irish railway history 🇮🇪☘️🇬🇧😍😍😍😍
@@michaeljohndennis2231 Thank you for your concern, I'm feeling mostly better now but probably won't be 100% for a few days.
I actually did pass through Dublin on my way to Belfast (having caught the ferry across from Holyhead) but sadly didn't have time to explore much else in Ireland. I think a proper visit is called for at some point in the future!
@@MikeWillSee I have extended family in Rural Ireland at age 54 and I come home on SailRail in my 23 years living in Manchester via Chester, Crewe, Bangor or Lladnuo and Holyhead - during the train strike on arrival off the Irish Ferries Ulysses from Dublin in October 2022, I was stranded in Holyhead for 2 days, unable to get back to Manchester - it really bugs me that there are very few direct trains from Manchester to Holyhead and I hate Platform 13 at Manchester Piccadilly with a passion, as my nearest station is Manchester Victoria and dealing with the Manchester Metrolink Trams is a real hassle, then getting tickets and information with heavy luggage, up and down escalators and stairs is a real pain - changing trains at Chester is a real pain, as you have to go from one end of the station to the other, often with only 6 mins to change trains, so I use Northern from Victoria to Chester and Avanti from Chester to Holyhead, as it’s far less hassle
@@michaeljohndennis2231 after that experience, I don't blame you for wanting to go for the simpler option!
@@michaeljohndennis2231
The intention of the powers that be is to take as much private traffic off the road as possible. Unfortunately they don't do every much to make the alternatives user friendly and comfortable. Britain really is becoming a take it or leave it third world dump.
Congratulations to Belfast ❤
Excellent to finally see belfast getting the upgrades it deserves!
Dammit Mike, ticking off stations I need! 😂
Nice video, it all looks very nice and I should really make plans to get over there.
We still are the most reliant region in GB and NI on private car use.
This a step forward.
Good video
Excellent film Michael, the best I've seen yet. Keep up the great work young man!
Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed!
Nice video; keep up the good work!
Great video! Belfast really needed this upgrade!
No it didn't! Europa train and buscentre was big enough, it just needed modernised.
I'll be visiting Belfast Grand Central station tomorrow , really existed for the new experiences.
Enjoy, it's a very nice station!
@@MikeWillSee Thank you👍
Great station & a numbered souvenir! Good video, too.
I knew I recognised you when I saw you with that big camera on Sunday!
One thing I will note, the modern Great Victoria Street Station that was replaced was only situated on part of the site for the original Great Victoria Street Station. The original GVS Station was demolished in the 70s, which led to the NIR termini being moved to Belfast Central (not Lanyon Place). It wasn't untill the mid 1990s when Translink was created and then decided to build a new station in the city centre, naming it after its predecessor.
Great video!
Also, spotted the back of my noggin at 5:58! 🤣
Ah good to know, thanks for the info, and glad you enjoyed the video!
@@MikeWillSee No worries! Most people, inlcuding Northern Irish people, would never have known either! Even the media gets it wrong 😬
Hopefully you'll come back for the first train to the Internatioanl Airport when we get there!
I'm Australian. In 2014 I travelled on the Enterprise from Dublin Connolly to the station then called "Belfast Central" and changed there for the train to Derry~Londonderry. I'm pretty sure that a few years later I noticed that the station I knew as "Belfast Central" was renamed Lanyon Place.
The mountains in view are lovely. Ireland has some of the most scenic railways in the world, sadly neglected for the last 50 years or more.
I would have said that the neglect and lack of investment would have been in the fifty years BEFORE the last fifty, rather than IN the last fifty.
@@odunadhaigh yes, absolutely.
Awsome video I was there think I saw you
I was wandering around quite a bit so it's very likely you did!
What sticks out here amongst all this modernity, that there is no electrification of the railway.
Regarding rail gauges: at least the different gauges on the island of Ireland and in Great Britain are separated by the Irish Sea. In pre-Federation Australia, Victoria opted for broad/Irish gauge, NSW for standard/British/Stephenson gauge and Queensland, solely to save costs, came up with its own narrow gauge (1067mm). While standard gauge was eventually adopted for interstate travel, it has been superseded by air travel making Melbourne-Sydney the fifth busiest passenger flight route in the world.
First train into Belfast the enterprise
Lovely as it should be
This was built to get ready for a united lreland in the near future, they are doing the same to the main roads as well 😮
If Star Trek is anything to go by then Ireland will be united later this year
However I think in reality it might take a little longer!
These developments are necessary regardless of whether Ireland and Northern Ireland vote to unite or not.
Is there a bar? I didn’t seen one. 😢 There was a Starbucks! 😊
It’s clever that they’re opening this thing in a piecemeal fashion; the media, vloggers, etc. all arrive for the opening of the bus terminal, then the first train; the grand opening of the second floor looks like it may merit an opening too. They’re doing a good job with their publicity machine.
I don't think they're opening it piecemeal for marketing reasons. It's just that it takes longer to implement a new railway station than a bus station. The external safety authorities in relation to rail do a lot of checking, involving drivers and signallers, first on the simulator and then in real life at each of the three junctions. The railway station and its associated rail network was the first to be completed but the last to be allowed to open.
A lot better than that shitty little Chorlton Street one in Manchester!
Good Vid!
With reference to the track gauge. I seem to remember watching a YT video years ago about the different gauge in NI, it came about because they had a choice of 2 gauges, I presume one was the standard gauge and the other something else of a wider gauge.No one could make their minds up, which gauge to run on, so they decided on a measurement halfway between the 2 different gauges. So wider than standard gauge and narrower of the other wider gauge on offer. As I say, it is something from memory, so needs confirmation as to the facts of the story.
That's what I'd heard as well, although similarly to you, I'm unsure on the exact details!
"about the different gauge in NI" There isn't a different gauge in NI from the rest of the island. The standard gauge for the island of Ireland was established long before Northern Ireland came into existence in 1922. There never was another standard gauge for the island of Ireland other than 5 foot 3 inches. I believe that there were two competitors for the Irish standard gauge, namely 5 foot 0 inches and 5 foot 6 inches, and 5 foot 3 inches was chosen.
I was watching the service passing through finaghy on the bgc platform
i like how they still have ATOS anne there
Yeah that was a bit of a surprise to me too, but a welcome one!
Canopy under canopy probably for effective lighting
Only criticism is Platforms seemed narrow . Are they gonna keep only letting people in when the train's there? Also I don't think those canopies will keep the weather off.
Otherwise impressive . Also I liked Lisburn station, as a contrast .
7:19 I suspect the wider track gauge on Northern Irish railways is because Iarnrod Éireann generally have a wider gauge
Yeah from my understanding it's a uniform gauge across the island, it just happens to be slightly wider than standard gauge!
The 5ft2in (1600mm) gauge came into use throughout the island from 1843.
5ft 3ins is the standard gauge throughout the island of Ireland,if Irish Rail had a wider gauge there would be no cross border service.
The standard track gauge on all mainline railways on the island of Ireland was defined in the earlier parts of the 1800s, more than a century before Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnród Éireann were founded. NIR and IÉ are modern companies established after the 1960s, and they each inherited the existing all-Ireland track gauge of 5 foot 3 inches.
Mustn’t be expecting many bus passengers looking at the number of available seats
Living in Manchester myself, I’m more inclined to get the train from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime St, get the Liverpool (Birkenhead) to Belfast Ferry, then get to this station for the Enterprise train to Dublin, instead of the Holyhead to Dublin ferry
Yeah that's definitely a fun way of doing it, but is probably quite a lot slower than going via Holyhead, especially as there is actually a direct Holyhead - Manchester train operated by TfW!
It is
I would have preferred them to have called the station 'Belfast Weavers Cross' ... so Ireland's version of King's Cross. There are too many Grand Centrals...
So this is a brand new station and there is no sign of electrification?!
Unfortunately, yes. It would make no sense to electrify it as it currently stands because none of the lines running into it are electrified.
With that said, there are plans to electrify the lines through Belfast as set out in the All Island Strategic Rail Review, but these are of course subject to funding and needing to be signed off by politicians, so we'll just have to hope that they see sense and the long-overdue electrification happens some time soon!
Yup all NIR trains are DMUs
Nice station, just need to improve the Track between Belfast-Dublin. Its 87 miles and it takes 2 hours 15 mins to travel between Belfast-Dublin. Thats about 30 MPH
Sorry but you’re wrong the correct distance between Belfast and Dublin on the rail route is 104.9 miles.
It's not the quality of track that's a limiting issue so much as the need for triple or quadruple track in parts of the congested Dublin area and also, to a lesser extent in the Belfast area. (Quadruple track is now in existence over about 5 miles of route out of Heuston Station.) Incidentally, it's considerably more than 87 miles between Belfast Grand Central and Dublin Connolly Stations.
Lovely but tbh it’s not huge. Some of the stations in London have 20 platforms with long trains constantly coming in and out.
I thought they might have more platforms tbh.
Good to see they have ticket barriers.
I just wish they’d dual most of our network otherwise this is pointless.
Well yes it's not that large by London standards, but it is the biggest interchange on the island of Ireland, and for a city of 350,000 people, 8 platforms is quite a lot!
In any case, it's certainly the largest 'new' station I've been to (apart from maybe Crossrail) but you're right that further investment will be needed in the rest of the network in order for it to achieve its full potential!
@wintersnowowen2254
More people live in London than on the island of Ireland.
Given that there are 8 train platforms and more than 20 bus stances, the station is neither too big nor too small. For numerous reasons, this station is NOT pointless, even with the single tracking of much of the rail network.
@@MikeWillSee "it is the biggest interchange on the island of Ireland" From a railway perspective it isn't quite the biggest, insofar as Dublin's Heuston Station with 9 platforms is bigger. When Translink talks about GCS being the biggest, it's referring to the combination of rail and bus.
Sorry to be the naysayer. It's a nice new station, but there has been no change at all to the number of rail services, nor is there ever likely to be.
Err, the Enterprise is going hourly from the end of the month.
It's the 2nd biggest waste of money ever in Ireland 🇮🇪
After that hospital