Lisburn railway station

The station was opened on 12 August 1839 by the Ulster Railway. The station buildings were rebuilt in 1878 to designed by William Henry Mills, for the then newly formed Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNRI).

On Wednesday 20 December 1978, there was a fatal collision between two trains. The fire brigade attended and cut out the person killed from the wreckage. A number of other people were treated for minor injuries and shock.[1]

It has been renovated, with a new waiting area on platform 1, new toilets and vending machines. addition, on platforms 2 and 3, a coffee shop operates on weekday mornings, to accommodate commuters travelling towards Belfast. To make the station more accessible, lifts have been installed on each platform.

There is a station house built in Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNR) style. It is now in private ownership.

The Northern Ireland Digital Film Archive holds a clip of black and white film. It was made in 1897 and was filmed from a moving train going through Lisburn Railway Station on the way from Belfast to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), Dublin. The name of the station can be seen and in addition, the view includes the platform, train carriages, station buildings and large houses along the length of North Circular Road, Lisburn.

The station in 1974

Mondays to Saturdays there is a half-hourly service towards Portadown or Newry in one direction, and to Great Victoria Street, Lanyon Place or Bangor in the other. Extra services run at peak times, and the service reduces to hourly operation in the evenings.

Only one Enterprise service calls at the station, the Sunday 09:13 to Dublin Connolly.

Certain peak time trains also run as expresses between here and Great Victoria Street.

On Sundays there is an hourly NIR service in each direction.

Preceding station		Northern Ireland Railways		Following station
Hilden		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Newry		Moira
Lanyon Place		Enterprise Belfast-Dublin (Sundays only)		Portadown or Lurgan (Sundays only)
	Disused railways
Hilden		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry via Lisburn-Antrim line		Knockmore
	Historical railways
Dunmurry Line and station open		Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Belfast-Portadown		The Damhead Line open, station closed

The Enterprise can be popular with rugby fans connecting at Dublin Connolly for the DART to Lansdowne Road. The line is also used by rail passengers changing at Dublin Connolly onto the DART to Dún Laoghaire for example or travelling to Dublin Port for the Irish Ferries or Stena Line to Holyhead, and then by train along the North Wales Coast Line to London Euston and other destinations in England and Wales.

Until 2003, Lisburn was also a stop on the Belfast-Derry railway line. However, in 2001, the Bleach Green route (via Mossley and Templepatrick) was re-opened, after being closed in 1978. This provided a faster route for Derry Line trains than the Lisburn-Antrim line. A skeleton service was operated on this line until 2003, when passenger services were withdrawn. The other reason why the line was cut was because of the congestion on the route which caused considerable problems with the Enterprise Service for over 20 years. The line itself is still maintained for rolling stock transfers and emergency diversions.

Passengers now wishing to travel to destinations on the Londonderry Line can no longer travel directly from Lisburn station, and must travel to Great Victoria Street to change trains.

There is a possibility of reopening the line to Antrim and possible reopening of the line from Portadown to Armagh railway station in Armagh. The Armagh Line has been listed in proposed plans to reopen the line.[2]

• Lisburn West railway station

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lisburn railway station.

• Digital Film Archive - Official web site, provided by Northern Ireland Screen.