Great Victoria Street train station to close permanently on Saturday 11th May

Train commuters will have to temporarily change their journey into Belfast city centre as Great Victoria Street train station is to close permanently. The last passenger train will leave Great Victoria Street train station on 11.32pm to Bangor on Friday, May 10.

Passengers currently using Great Victoria Street Station will be required to use alternative stations, such as Lanyon Place, Botanic, City Hospital or York Street. Passengers can use valid rail tickets on scheduled Metro and Glider services to interchange between these stations.

Engineering work will necessitate closure of the rail line between Lanyon Place and Lisburn stations later in the summer . During this time, bus substitution services will operate and passengers will also be able to use scheduled Metro and Ulsterbus services operating between Belfast train stations and along the Lisburn Road. A revised timetable will operate from Saturday 11 May until Sunday 25 August – you can check travel disruptions here before you travel.

The Europa Buscentre will remain operational until the new Belfast Grand Central Station will open this autumn.

The closure of the Great Victoria Street rail station marks the end of a long era of rail travel on the site. First opened by the Ulster Railways on 12 August 1839, the rail station was the first and only railway terminus until 1852. In 1876 the Ulster Railway became part of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), making Great Victoria Street the terminus for a network that extended south to Dublin and west to Derry and Bundoran.

In 1968, a large section of the original terminal building was demolished to make way for the Europa Hotel, and the remainder of Great Victoria Street station was demolished in 1976 after the now Lanyon Place station was inaugurated as the new ‘Belfast Central Station’. The current Great Victoria Street station was constructed behind the Great Northern Tower and opened in 1995.