Trains

Plug the gap in NI’s rail network – Seven requests for the West…

Steve Bradley on January 19, 2022, 7:11 pm | Readers 7827

When Northern Ireland was founded a century ago, an intricate network of railway lines knitted every town and city together across the jurisdiction. It was an important economic and social inheritance from the Victorian era, at a time when all transport was ‘public transport’. Within less than 50 years, however, all that had changed. In 1949 the multitude of private companies that ran individual railway lines across NI was nationalised under the Stormont-controlled ‘Ulster Transport Authority’ (UTA). The UTA was …

Ireland commits to funding Enterprise replacement from 2027 – what about NI?

Andy Boal on October 5, 2021, 1:22 pm | Readers 2151

The Irish National Development Plan is a long document, and I have had little time to do more than skim it, but the key headline spotted by Jonny McCambridge and noted by Mick, one of the concrete proposals in the plan, is the replacement for the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service by 2027. The branded Enterprise service was introduced by the Great Northern Railway in 1947, and at one time was extended to Cork. NIR relaunched its side of the service in …

Tackling Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure Apartheid – Part 2, The Solution…

Steve Bradley on March 19, 2021, 8:04 am | Readers 5502

Read part one here… It is clear that Northern Ireland has a stark east-west divide in transport infrastructure. One which fails to fully reflect its population distribution, and raises questions of sectarian policymaking and a Belfast-centric nature to governance here. It is also clear that the era of car dominance in urban areas is slowly drawing to a close worldwide, which Northern Ireland will inevitably catch up with. Climate change and a desire for more liveable towns and cities will …

The challenge of Infrastructure…

Soapbox on August 5, 2020, 5:12 pm | Readers 2397

In 1948, just 3 years after the end of World War 2, the NHS was born. At a time of deep financial uncertainty. In 2020, another time of deep uncertainty, the NHS has led the way. Just like in 1948 a dramatic change in direction is possible post Covid19. Health service reforms need to happen, education as well, but suddenly the pressing need is our economy and infrastructure to support future growth. At the end of May our Alliance council …

Air France ordered to curb competition with rail in France…

Brian O'Neill on May 12, 2020, 10:21 am | Readers 987

This is an interesting story from railjournal.com ONE of three conditions imposed on Air France in exchange for a €7bn coronavirus aid package is to stop competing with TGV services where rail offers a viable alternative. The ban on short-haul domestic air travel will apply to routes where trains offer a journey time of 2h 30min or less. This means Air France will no longer be able to sell tickets for domestic travel on flights between Paris and Bordeaux, Lyon, …

Could we be on the cusp of better weekend bus services?

David McCann on September 29, 2017, 10:34 am | Readers 759

Last Friday for Culture Night, Translink extended their bus services from 11pm until midnight. I have always been incredibly frustrated that even on weekends our services end at 11pm, leaving people dependent on taxis or walking to get home. Belfast is a relatively small city, but I have always been a firm believer that even on the main arterial routes there was a case for continuing the bus services onto midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. On Culture Night, I …