Use of public transport in Northern Ireland is on the rise in post-COVID recovery. Translink’s vision to make the bus and train first choice for travel is aligned with the Department for Infrastructure’s drive to achieve a modal shift in public transport and address climate change. The Belfast Grand Central Station project will be a key enabler for these objectives, allowing for the expansion of the current offering in our bus and train services. It will also bring the train service to Dublin closer to Belfast city centre.

The project involves a great deal of innovation and new thinking, but I’ve highlighted five facts that give a flavour of what we’re undertaking.

1. Parking for more than 300 bicycles. The modal shift element of the project means that we will be incorporating an active travel centre in the vicinity of the transport hub, partnering with local agencies to promote walking and cycling with specific facilities for cyclists. This will include a 300-cycle parking base, a dedicated two-way cycleway segregated from traffic and a link with Belfast Bikes, to help facilitate travel throughout the city.

2. Cross-community consultation. We've been working for many years on engagement, collaborating with representative groups across the neighbouring communities. One of the objectives of the station, beyond the actual provision of public transport, is to act as a catalyst for regeneration of the area called Weavers Cross. In addition to a range of face to face community engagement activities, we have also used online channels (partly driven by COVID), including a virtual consultation room that you could visit, to look around the different stands and view various aspects of the project.

3. A huge expansion of public transport. When the Belfast Grand Central Station project is completed in 2025, it will cater for 20 million passenger journeys a year, with a doubling of rail platforms and a 50% increase in bus stands to 26.

4. A new sustainable bridge. As part of the construction, we’re building a new bridge over the railway, which is a dedicated busway that will get buses across the new railway tracks. It will have a 55-metre span and will use weathering steel in its construction. Weathering steel is a type of steel that oxidises and forms a protective coat, so it doesn't need any further treatment. It doesn't need to be painted and doesn't corrode any further, which means you don't need to go back continually repainting it or maintaining it. But it has a rusty appearance, so people think you're putting up a rusty bridge – which it is, in a way, but what’s more important is that it is sustainable.

5. There’s a station manager appointed. We’re looking at how we can use technology in the operations of the station, so we have a team engaged already to look at operational readiness for our station. This includes the recruitment of a station manager, who is currently working with a team to make sure that when we have the facility built and operational, there's a smooth transition from construction into operations, because it's a huge business change for us. It also means that the station manager is able to provide input into key design decisions, with an eye to make sure that it is practical, from an operational perspective.

Philip Brown was in conversation with Craig Thomas

Photo credit: Translink

Next steps

Are you involved in a project that people should know about? Why not enter the CIHT Awards and get the recognition you deserve?