Dublin–Belfast railway line

Dublin to Belfast line
Enterprise Class 3000 at Lisburn.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail, Regional rail and Heavy rail
System	Iarnród Éireann NI Railways
Status	Operational
Locale	Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland
Termini	Belfast Central Dublin Connolly
Operation
Operator(s)	Iarnród Éireann NI Railways
Character	Main Line
Rolling stock	Class 201 Class 2800 Class 29000 Class 3000 "C3K" De Dietrich Stock Mark 3
Technical
No. of tracks	Two
Track gauge	Irish gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Electrification	Un-electrified
Route map Legend [v · d · e]Belfast to Dublin Line Legend Belfast-Larne/Derry Lines Belfast-Bangor Line Belfast Central Botanic City Hospital City Junct., to Belfast Great Victoria Street Adelaide Balmoral Finaghy Dunmurry Derriaghy Lambeg Hilden Lisburn Knockmore (Closed 2005) Lisburn-Antrim Line Maze (Closed 1974) Moira Lurgan Portadown Tanderagee (Closed 1965) Scarva Poyntzpass Goraghwood (Closed 1965) Craigmore Viaduct Newry Adavoyle (Closed 1933) Mt. Pleasant (Jonesborough) (Closed 1866) - border Castletown Dundalk Clarke Castlebellingham (Closed 1976) To Ardee Dromin Junction (Closed 1975) Dunleer (Closed 1984) Newfoundwell Boyne Viaduct Drogheda-Navan (Freight Only) Drogheda MacBride Laytown Laytown viaduct Mosney (Closed 2000) Gormanston Balbriggan Skerries Rush & Lusk Rogerstown viaduct Donabate Broadmeadow viaduct Malahide (for DART) Portmarnock Clongriffin To Howth DART Howth Junction Kilbarrack DART Raheny DART Harmonstown DART Killester DART Clontarf Road DART Fairview Depot Western Commuter (to Mullingar) Dublin Connolly Luas Red Line (to Dublin Heuston and Tallaght) Loopline Bridge Trans-Dublin Line

The Dublin-Belfast main line is a major international railway route in Ireland that connects Dublin Connolly station in the Republic of Ireland and Belfast Central station in Northern Ireland.

History

The railway line was built by three separate companies. In 1837 the Ulster Railway began building a railway line between Belfast and Lisburn, which was extended in stages to Portadown in 1842 and as far as Clones by 1863. The Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) built the line between Dublin and Drogheda. The Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway (D&B Jct) linked the Dublin and Drogheda with the Ulster Railway at Portadown. The D&D and the D&B Jct merged in 1875 to form the Northern Railway of Ireland. In 1876 this new company merged with the Ulster Railway and the Irish North Western Railway, forming the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNRI).

The partition of Ireland in 1922 created an international border between Newry and Dundalk, which caused lengthy delays as trains were required to stop at stations on either side of the border for customs examinations. This disruption was eased in 1947 with the opening of facilities for customs checks at Amiens Street station and Great Victoria Street station.

At the same time, the GNRI made its Belfast-Dublin services non-stop with the launch of the Enterprise Express. The GNRI was nationalised by the governments of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in 1953 as the Great Northern Railway Board, but in 1958 this was split between the Ulster Transport Authority and Córas Iompair Éireann. This led to a running down of rail services in Northern Ireland, with the main line to Belfast closed in 1965.^{[citation needed]} The newly formed Northern Ireland Railways reopened it in 1969 and bought new locomotives and rolling stock to restore the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service as well as new diesel multiple units for local services.

Upgrades

In recent years, the government of the Republic of Ireland has developed a National Development Plan, which has seen major investment in infrastructure. Almost the entire railway network, including the Belfast-Dublin line as far as the border, has been upgraded to Continuous Welded Rail, while signalling is controlled using the Centralised Traffic Control system located at Dublin Connolly station. In addition, in 1997, a set of new De Dietrich Stock coaches were purchased jointly by Northern Ireland Railways and Iarnród Éireann to operate a revamped Enterprise service along with the new Class 201 locomotives.

Services

In addition to the inter-city service between Belfast and Dublin, both NIR and IE operate local services along the route. NIR operates local services along the northern half of the line (the Belfast-Newry Line) between Belfast and Lisburn, Portadown and Newry, while IE operates its Commuter services between Dublin and Dundalk as part of the Dublin Suburban Rail network. In addition, the line between Dublin Connolly and Malahide is electrified and forms part of the Trans-Dublin DART network.

Simulation

The route has been released as a commercial add on for Microsoft Train Simulator by Making Tracks. It was released in two sections, part one covering Belfast Central to Dundalk,^[1] with part two covering the section from Dundalk to Dublin. It is set during the 2000s.^[2]

See also

• Dublin to Cork Main Line
• Enterprise (train)
• Boyne Viaduct

External links

• Dublin - Belfast - Dublin Mainline timetable
• Dublin - Dundalk - Dublin Suburban timetable
• Newry - Belfast - Bangor Suburban timetable
• Bangor - Belfast - Newry Suburban timetable

References

1. ^ "Irish Enterprise North". Making Tracks. http://www.makingtracks-online.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=83. Retrieved 2009-01-17. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "Irish Enterprise South". Making Tracks. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080731032651/http://www.makingtracks-online.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=354&Itemid=320. Retrieved 2009-01-17.