Irish Railway Record Society

NORTHERN IRELAND RAILWAYS

FUTURE OF NETWORK

The campaign to retain and develop the lines from Ballymena to Londonderry and Portrush and from Whitehead to Larne Harbour continued with the support of all political parties in Northern Ireland . In September, the Department of Regional Development (DRD) confirmed that only ‘essential safety’ work has been carried out on the North West rail link, with just £6.15m spent on the line out of £31.48m of public money spent on Northern Ireland's railways in the past five years. The Belfast Telegraph revealed that spending on improvements to the Belfast-Londonderry line has dramatically dropped over the past four years. The allocation for improvements totalled just £28,000 last year compared to £350,000 three years before.

A local politician claimed that the DRD were using artificially low passenger figures to justify closing the line. He claimed that tickets issued at intermediate stations, Day Tracker unlimited travel tickets or those issued by conductors onboard trains were excluded.

In October, the DRD said funds have been allocated in the draft budget to be spent on the ‘non-core network’. A DRD spokesman said: ‘The draft budget proposals provide for the development of the core railway network in line with the funding estimates in the report of the Railway Review Group and for an element of capital renewal of the lesser used lines in accordance with Option 1 of that report. But it should be stressed that the final decision has yet to be taken in relation to the future of the lesser-used lines’.

However, on 20 December, the Finance Minister announced that further funding had been approved for Option 2. The three options were:

The announcement was welcomed by Translink Chief Executive Ken Moffat: ‘This is wonderful news. A question mark has been hanging over the future of the network north of Ballymena and Whitehead for 18 months so the announcement securing the future of the lines is very welcome news for us as a rail operator and of course for our passengers. The investment is all the more welcome as it represents an increase on the amount originally set aside for the Derry and Larne lines in October’s draft budget’.

PASSENGER JOURNEYS

The number of rail passenger journey in Northern Ireland increased by 10% in the 2003-4 financial year from 6.3 million journeys to 6.9 million, according to data published by the Government in September. In contrast, Belfast urban bus (Citybus) patronage dropped by 0.4 million journeys.

TIMETABLE

A new Working timetable was introduced on Monday 4 September. However, there were no changes to passenger trains and no new public timetable was issued. A feature of the timetable is that the Mk IIf (Gatwick) set and four railcars are stabled overnight in Great Victoria Street (GVS) to make space in York Road for new 3000-class railcars.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Larne Line   Trooperslane automatic half barrier (AHB) level crossing has been converted to a four-barrier CCTV monitored level crossing. Temporary block working was instituted between Carrickfergus and Greenisland from 00.15 Thursday 16 September until 05.00 Tuesday 21 September, with  drivers  receiving  instructions  from hand-

signalmen. A temporary timetable with only minor disruptions was issued, except for the Sunday when trains ran between Belfast and Greenisland and between Carrickfergus and Larne with substitute buses in between.

Two weeks later Jordanstown level crossing was converted from AHB to four-barrier CCTV monitored. Temporary bock working was instituted between Bleach Green Junction and Greenisland from 00.15 Thursday 30 September until 05.00 Tuesday 5 October. A temporary timetable was issued and single line working was used for a period. Relocated signals protect both crossings.

Abutment strengthening to OB450 at MP19³/₄ resulted in bus substitution between Larne and Whitehead on Saturday 6 November and Sunday 7 November 2004 .

A contract was signed between NIR and Amec Spie Rail just before Christmas for re-laying of the line between Bleach Green Junction and Whitehead. The Contract will commence on site on 26 March 2005 . For the month prior to that, the contractor will be busy establishing site compounds and constructing temporary access routes across adjoining fields and properties. The track will be completely re-laid with CWR and the signalling system will be enhanced and renewed.

Belfast-Londonderry   Ballykelly level crossing (MP81⁵/₈) was renewed during a nighttime possession on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 August. The bearing plate pads on UB208 at Limavady Junction (MP79³/₄) were replaced during Saturday/Sunday nighttime possessions on 4/5 September and on 2/3 October.

Further track re-laying with CWR took place on the down line at the south end of Ballymena station in September and in Coleraine station during November. Due to embankment stabilisation and drainage work north of Dunloy, there was bus substitution between Ballymena and Ballymoney on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 November. The trackbed under OB151 at MP 49¹/₄ was excavated.

Rockslide protection has been installed at Downhill. Netting has been installed on cliff faces and barriers on the road adjacent to the railway.

Belfast - Dublin    The loop platform track in Portadown was re-laid with welded rail on steel sleepers between Friday 20 and Sunday 22 August.

LISBURN-ANTRIM

The usefulness of Lisburn-Antrim for diversions was again demonstrated on Saturday 25 September following a fire on 8091 at Yorkgate, which had been working the 10.35 GVS-Londonderry. The line was  also  used  for

training purposes on a regular basis

Lisburn-Antrim proved its worth again on Friday 19 November, when the main line was closed at Whiteabbey following a non-railway related incident. The 09.35 Londonderry-GVS and 10.35 GVS-Londonderry were diverted.

STATIONS

The Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan published in November proposed a new station at Tillysburn, which would cater for both the City Airport and a new retail development.

DEPOTS

Work commenced in August on construction of the new train cleaning facility at Fortwilliam on the up side just north of York Road depot. The facility is being specifically constructed for the 23 CAF C3K railcars and represents an investment of £11.4m. The 170-metre long by 30-metre wide by 10-metre high aluminium clad building will hold ten 3-car railcars. The site will include an external train wash, toilet retention tank unloading facility, refuelling facility, workshop, driver accommodation, storage space and office facilities.

Work progressed well on site clearance during the autumn. Structural steel erection commenced in November.

LOCOMOTIVES AND ROLLING STOCK

3000-class   CAF set 3006 was delivered to York Road on 23 September and commenced trial running almost immediately. CAF sets 3005 and 3007 were delivered to York Road on 4 and 7 October respectively. Sets 3005 and 3006 were on trial on 14 October.

Reliability running trials continued in September. Daytime running took place between York Road-Ballymena-Belfast Central- Newry-York Road . A twelve-car set was made up as a trial in York Road Works.

Commenting on the trials Mr Mal McGreevy, General Manager NIR said ‘They are running exceptionally well. We are very pleased with them. Regarding the Londonderry line he said ’I believe it would reasonable to expect a 1 hour 40 minute limited stop service, calling at Coleraine, Ballymena and Antrim’.

Commissioning of the new trains went well with just one major problem outstanding at the end of October. This delayed the entry of the trains into service and resulted in a suspension of further deliveries. The computerised passenger information system, which makes announcements to passengers and displays information on a screen on the exterior of each carriage, continued to have software problems. NIR said that ‘Until the software is right, we cannot comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act and therefore cannot get the necessary certification’.

NIR made extensive use of their new driver-training simulator to train drivers in the new trains. The £1.1m facility was supplied by Corys Tess and is an exact working replica of the C3K cab, complete with controls, VDUs and is fitted with all the various radios. The software incorporates a track-building tool to allow the creation of a detailed virtual copy of the actual rail network.

The first of the new trains entered commercial service on Wednesday 24 November when 3-car set 3001 operated the 10.32 Portadown-Bangor and a non-stop 12.15 Bangor-Belfast Central. It was followed closely by empty 3-car set 3002 as a back up. Translink Chairman Dr Joan Smyth said, 'This is an historic day for Northern Ireland , and marks the beginning of a very exciting period for rail travel'.

Deliveries re-commenced with set 3008 being delivered to York Road on 23 November. Sets 3008 and 3009 were stored in Adelaide yard in December. Sets 3004 and 3010 were delivered on 14 December, bringing deliveries to ten sets. Deliveries will continue until May and all 23 sets are expected to be in service by end of 2005.

Set 3002 entered commercial service on Monday 29 November, set 3003 on Thursday 2 December and set 3005 on 20 December. Initial operations were on Bangor-Portadown services and the new trains soon showed their high performance capability.

On Sunday 12 December, 3002 was used on a test run from Belfast to Londonderry and return. On Monday 20 December, 3002 worked the 12.25 GVS-Londonderry and 15.05 return. Press and local politicians travelled and were photographed at stations en route. The train operated to the 90-mph line limit near Templepatrick on the return journey and easily kept to section timings. Set 3003 was stabled in Coleraine as a back up but as not required.

Locomotives    GM 111 continued to operate the Newry-Belfast service throughout autumn and winter with former Gatwick Mk IIf carriages, although newly painted 209 was used in December. No. 112 continues on loan to IÉ and 8113 remains out of service at York Road .

80-class   Mechanical failures continued to affect operations as NIR struggle to keep the ageing fleet in service. Members of the class continue to be ‘stored’ as they become defective. Four 80-class power cars have been withdrawn; 67 on 4 June 2002 , 8084 on 27 January 2003 , 8087 on 28 November 2003 and 8081 on 18 March 2004

In late August, 8081, 8087 and 8736 were observed in York Road in a partially stripped condition. However, driving trailer 8736 was reinstated to traffic in late September, using a bogie removed from 8081. In November, 8739, 8732 and 8084 were noted stored at Adelaide .

Following a fire on power car 8083, power car 67 was brought from Adelaide yard to York Road on 21 September to have traction motors removed for use on 8083. No. 67 was disposed of for scrapping on 6 December.

De Dietrich   A series of ‘comfort ride test’ trains took place between Belfast and Malahide/Dublin Connolly in September and October, mainly at night. On Thursday 21 October, a three-piece test train (DT 9002) pushed by 218 ran during daytime to Dublin .

Train Cleaning   In September, NIR awarded Maybin Support Services NI Ltd, Belfast , a contract for train cleaning at locations across the network.

OPERATIONS

Following introduction of 3000-class railcars, 6-car 80-class sets took over many peak-time links from 3-car sets to relieve overcrowding.

The former Gatwick Mk IIf set continues to substitute for failed De Dietrich trains on Enterprise services. On Wednesday 8 December, the 10.30 Belfast-Dublin and 13.20 Dublin-Belfast were worked by 111 + 6 Mk IIf + generator van. The 10.30 started from GVS with passengers being taken from Central to GVS on 8096/8762/8753.

The next morning, the 06.50 Belfast-Dublin was worked by 111 + 6 Mk IIf + generator van. It departed Drogheda at 08.37, 15 minutes late. The same morning, the 07.35 Dublin-Belfast failed in Skerries and 2 x 141-class departed Drogheda to rescue it at 08.25. However, 111 failed in Dundalk while working the 09.35 Dublin-Belfast.

 The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 156, published February 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by Irish Railway Record Society Limited
Revised: June 14, 2005 .