Northern Ireland Railways

NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (Iarnród Tuaisceart Éireann) and for a brief period of time, Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent company is the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), and is thus one of only two state-owned train operators in the United Kingdom, the other being East Coast. It has a common Board of Management with the other two companies in the group, Ulsterbus and Metro (formerly Citybus). The rail network in Northern Ireland is not part of the National Rail network of Great Britain and because of this separation, NIR is the only commercial, non-heritage, passenger operator in the United Kingdom to operate a vertical integration model, with responsibility of all aspects of the network including running trains, maintaining rolling stock and infrastructure, pricing etc.

History
NIR was formed in 1968 when it took over from the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA), which had operated the province's railways since 1948. Much of the railway network closed during the 1950s and 1960s, declining from 900 miles (1,500 km) to 206.61 miles (330.58 km) at present.

Suffering frequent disruption and damage to infrastructure caused by the Troubles, and starved of investment by successive political administrations, the NIR network had become badly run down by the 1960s, with old rolling stock and poorly maintained track. NIR's last steam locomotives were withdrawn in 1970.

In 1970, NIR started using new rolling stock to re-launch the once popular Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast. These trains comprised new three diesel locomotives (the NIR Class 101 built by Hunslet in England) and Mark 2B carriages built by BREL. Despite frequent interruptions due to bomb scares, the service has remained a more or less constant feature of the NIR network.

As older trains became obsolete in the 1970s, a new type of diesel-electric multiple unit was introduced to the network, called the Class 80. BREL built these units between 1974 and 1977 to British Rail's MK 2B design with some trailer cars rebuilt from hauled stock. The power cars are powered by an English Electric 4SRKT engine, nicknamed 'Thumpers' due to their characteristic sound, and are equipped with two English Electric 538 traction motors. These entered service on the suburban lines around Belfast, becoming a stalwart on the whole network. Now a rare sight, a few of these slam-door trains remain in service primarily on the Larne-Belfast line, as well as the Coleraine-Portrush Line. In the early 1980s, NIR also purchased one of the prototype single car LEV Railbuses built to test the railbus concept on the British network. This was intended for use on the Coleraine-Portrush branch, but was withdrawn due to the capacity constraints of operating a single car on the route. A plan was also mooted to utilise the vehicle on the Lisburn-Antrim line to prevent it from being closed. This proposal failed again because of the limited capacity provided by the vehicle.

NIR have three EMD class 111 (111–113) for freight and passenger use and were built in 1980 (111–112) and 1984 (113).

During the eighties it was apparent that additional trains would be needed. BREL built nine 450 Class sets on former MK 1 underframes between 1985-1987. The power cars are powered by an English Electric 4SRKT engine recovered from former 70 Class units (except 457 which uses the engine recovered from 80 Class power car 88) and are equipped with two English Electric 538 traction motors and is a three car diesel-electric multiple unit, based on a more modern British design, with air operated sliding doors. Now in the process of a mid-life refurbishment, these trains continue in service.

In 1994, NIR bought two EMD 208 Class locomotives, identical to Iarnród Éireann's 201 Class. These haul the cross-border Enterprise, dedicated sets of modern carriages.

In 2004/2005, NIR received delivery of twenty-three 3000 class diesel multiple units from CAF of Spain, in an order which totalled £80m. The final unit, 3023, arrived in Belfast Harbour on 18 July 2005. All units had entered service by 24 September 2005. They operate principally between Bangor, Portadown and Derry and Belfast.

Performance
The latest performance figures for NI Railways according to Translink are 99% of trains arriving at the final destination within 5 minutes and 100% within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. Among other accolades, NI Railways won the prestigious UK Rail Business of the year for 2008

Current fleet
Since the 1950s, services in Northern Ireland have been mainly operated by diesel-electric multiple units rather than locomotive hauled stock. Today, NIR operates three distinct types of DEMU. These are supplemented by a single rake of locomotive hauled stock, which is pulled by one of NIR's three diesel locomotives.

NIR is in the process of withdrawing the 80 Class DMUs, which have been replaced by the C3K units. A limited number of these units have been refurbished to operate peak time Larne Town services, with one 450 Class utilised to operate the Coleraine-Portrush shuttle, freeing the C3K trains from this task for longer routes, as well as filling other gaps in the timetable. A further two car 80 Class unit is utilsed as NIR's sandite train. The nine 450 Class units primarily operate the service between Belfast and Larne Harbour. The Class 111 locomotives used to operate one passenger service each weekday, with a rake of eight modified Class 488 coaches that were formerly used by Gatwick Express, combined with a former Mark 2B coach converted for use as a generator van. In NIR service these are known as "Gatwick Set".

In 2006 a DBSO was purchased from Rivera Trains to add to the Gatwick Set, with the three locomotives in the process of being converted to push-pull operation. This was intended to allow the rake of "Gatwick" stock, which does not have its own driving car, to be utilised to a greater extent because it will negate the need to run the locomotive around. This arrived on 26th June 2009 and was expected to enter service later that year, but has since been placed into warm store along with the Gatwick Set at both Fort William Depot and Lisburn station sidings, with the DBSO Stored in NIR's York Road Depot. However, the DBSO & Gatwick set faces an uncertain future as NIR Will not only have enough 4CK units to replace both the current 80 & Castle Class 450 units, as well as the Gatwick set, but also the fact that none of NIR' s 111's have yet been converted to work in Push Pull mode with the TDM Fitted DBSO.

NIR also owns two 201 Class locomotives and 14 De Dietrich Stock coaches which are shared with a similar number owned by Iarnród Éireann and used by Enterprise.

In 2005, NIR investigated the possibility of obtaining seven Class 222 DEMUs built for the British network. In the event, these entered service with their intended operator Midland Mainline. The trains would have required significant modification to enable NIR to use them, not least of which would have been their conversion from standard gauge to Irish gauge.

Future fleet
In 2007, NIR announced plans to purchase up to 20 new trains under its "New Trains 2010" proposal following the confirmation of its expected budget. It is planned that this fleet will replace the remaining Class 80 and Class 450 trains from 2011. Renamed as "New Trains Two", this project went out to tender in late 2007, with the company due to be appointed in early 2009. Work on the new trains would begin shortly thereafter with the units entering service from 2011 onwards. In March 2009 it was announced that CAF had been selected to build the new fleet, renamed as Class 4000.

Routes


NIR currently maintains the following railway lines


 * Belfast-Dublin railway line (from Belfast to the border)
 * Belfast-Bangor railway line - the northern route of the former Belfast and County Down Railway
 * Belfast-Larne railway line
 * Belfast-Derry railway line
 * Coleraine-Portrush railway line
 * Lisburn-Antrim railway line

NIR operates regular passenger services along the following major routes (only major stations are listed):


 * Portadown, Lisburn, Belfast Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central, Holywood and Bangor
 * Belfast Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central and Larne
 * Belfast Great Victoria Street, Belfast Central, Antrim, Ballymena, Coleraine and Derry
 * Coleraine and Portrush

On the cross-border route between Belfast and Dublin, NIR operates a joint service of fast trains under the name Enterprise in conjunction with the national railway company of the Republic of Ireland, Iarnród Éireann.

Suspended routes
Following the re-opening of the 15 mi Antrim - Bleach Green line in June 2001, which had been closed since 1978, NIR ceased passenger operations between Lisburn and Antrim on 29 June 2003. Combined with the newly built Dargan Bridge across the River Lagan in Belfast, the Bleach Green route offered faster journey times between Derry, Coleraine, Ballymena, Antrim and Belfast.

The infrastructure of the Lisburn-Antrim railway line is still maintained, and occasional crew training operations are performed on the line. While it is also available as a diversionary route, Ballinderry, Glenavy and Crumlin stations have closed.

Cost cutting
In November 2008, the Department for Regional Development requested additional funding to cover the costs of rising fuel bills and maintenance, in part due to the global financial downturn. In the event of additional funding being unavailable, NIR made a number of suggestions to absorb the rising costs, which included the end of Sunday train services, or stopping services after 2200 on weekdays.

New Timetable
As of 14 December 2008, a new timetable will come into effect. This will be rather similar to the old timetable with the odd service being shifted by up to 2 minutes. On the Derry line, the early morning and late night service will start and end at Coleraine, possibly due to lack of demand for this service. However the latest service still leaves Belfast Central at 21.25, meaning passengers travelling to Ballymena and Antrim are restricted from travelling later at night.

Future
The development of the railways in Northern Ireland has been linked to the future economic growth of the region, and as a way of reducing the levels of congestion on Northern Ireland's roads. One of the major challenges which NI Railways has faced is the limited number of trains available for service at peak times. The limited fleet size has led to services being cancelled due to failures or delays. This can lead to widespread disruption across the network and potentially a huge loss in revenue to Translink. Upon its establishment in 1998, the Northern Ireland Assembly put in place an investment programme costing £100 million to bring about major improvements to the railways. This programme saw various projects including the purchase of the new 3000 Class trains, the complete relaying of track on the Belfast-Larne line and the construction of a new maintenance depot. Following the completion of this, Translink, as part of its long-term investment programme for NIR, conducted what it termed the "Strategic Rail Review" in 2004, an independent review of rail services to determine its funding request under the Comprehensive Spending Review. This report determined that so-called "lesser used lines" were an important and economically viable part of the total network, and that investment should be consistent rather than in the "stop-go" manner of previous years.

A debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly on 14 May 2007 raised several proposals as to how the railway network could be improved:
 * Reopening of existing but closed infrastructure, most notably the Lisburn-Antrim line
 * Improvement of the infrastructure on the Belfast-Derry line through, at the very least, the installation of passing loops to allow service frequency to be increased, while upgrading the track to allow trains at higher speed.
 * Purchase of new rolling stock to allow the complete replacement of the remaining 450 Class and 80 Class units

Further proposals from external pressure groups have advocated the protection of former routes, where the track has been lifted but the trackbed remains intact, to enable these routes to be reinstated in the future in the event of the growth of commuter traffic as an alternative to increased road building.

In October 2007, following the CSR which provided funding allocation to the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department for Regional Development was able to announce its draft budget. Conor Murphy, the Regional Development Minister, stated that approximately £137 million could be allocated from this draft budget for investment in the railways for the period 2008-2011.

In June 2008, Brian Guckian, an independent transport researcher from Dublin, presented a wide ranging proposal to Translink for a £460 million expansion of the network in Northern Ireland called Northern Ireland Network Enhancement (NINE). This proposes the return of the network to several towns that have not had access to rail services for many years; the main part of the proposal would see the Derry-Portadown line re-opened, which would link Omagh, Strabane and Dungannon, with branches to Enniskillen and Armagh. In addition, this plan would see the re-introduction of services into the centre of Newry through a short spur from Goraghwood, and the introduction of the long-proposed rail link to Belfast International Airport via the Lisburn-Antrim line. This proposal has been tied together with the cross-border link to Donegal, as it would potentially allow travel from Letterkenny to Dublin via Omagh in approximately three and a half hours.

Infrastructure
At present, the rail network in Northern Ireland is concentrated around the Greater Belfast area. Both the Bangor and Larne lines have been re-laid in recent years, enabling timetable improvements to be delivered. The only significant "inter-city" routes are the main line between Belfast and Dublin, which covers services to Newry, and the Belfast-Derry line. This line is single track with passing points north of Mossley West, and single track only west of Coleraine, which causes the service to the second city to be limited, both in terms of service frequency and service speed; according to the current timetable, the train takes 2hr 20 m while the bus takes an hour less. The pressure group Into the West, which campaigns for improved rail links to the North-West region, have stated that the need for a quality rail service, as part of a larger integrated transport policy, is vital to the economic development not just for the city of Derry, but for the wider cross-border region as a whole.

On the 21st November 2007, the Regional Development Minister announced that the investment strategy being considered by the NI Executive included the relaying of the Belfast-Derry line north of Coleraine. This project is planned to include new signalling and a new passing loop, thereby allowing more trains on the route. The cost has been estimated at £64 million, and has been projected to begin in 2011, lasting two years. Prior to the major relaying of the Coleraine-Derry section, £12 million will be spent on improving the section between Ballymena and Coleraine, on which work has already begun. This will see the stretch of line between Ballymena and Coleraine close completely for four months, with a replacement bus service substituting. Trains will continue to run between Derry, Coleraine and Portrush, with a small fleet of trains stabled at Coleraine for this purpose, however 4 trains have been stabled instead of the 3 previously reported. Once the project has been completed, there is a further proposal to add two additional trains per day to the route, enabling journey times between Belfast and Derry to be reduced by up to 30 minutes. As part of this plan, Translink envisage an hourly service to Derry, with a half-hourly service to Ballymena. In addition, there have been proposals to improve the Belfast-Dublin line between Knockmore and Lurgan, enabling journey times to be reduced and frequency to be increased on this route. This will improve not only NIR's services, but also allow an hourly Enterprise service to Dublin.

In May 2008, the Regional Development Minister announced that his department would commission a study, in conjunction with Donegal County Council, to investigate the effects a resurrection of railway services in the north-west of Ireland. This is with a long-term projection of building a railway line connecting Derry with Sligo through County Donegal.

As part of NI Railways' plans for its new rolling stock, it is constructing a new traincare depot next to Adelaide station on the site of the old freight yard. As a means of improving timings of its services, Belfast Great Victoria Street is planned to undergo a major refurbishment that will see the platforms lengthened and the curves reduced, together with the addition of a new fifth platform, all of which is planned to bring about the transfer of Enterprise's services from Belfast Central. This would see Enterprise terminating trains at the city's central terminus.

Further plans are afoot to double the track from Monkstown to Templepatrick, to further increase capacity on the Londonderry line. This is due to be completed by January 2015.

Airport links
Speculation remains that the Lisburn-Antrim route could one day re-open, potentially to offer an alternative Antrim - Lisburn - Belfast service. The line is maintained both for crew training and as a diversion, and passes very close to Belfast International Airport at Aldergrove. For a number of years there have been suggestions that a new station be built on the line for trains to serve the airport. The Airport has marked the building of a new station in its list of future plans, while EasyJet, which is the largest operator into Belfast International, have been strong in advocating an airport rail link. The reopening of the Lisburn-Antrim line is seen not simply in terms of provision of a link to the airport however - it would also allow for the further economic development of the area, which has seen increases in population as people use the towns in South Antrim as dormitary settlements for Belfast. In May 2009, the Minister for Regional Development stated that a proposal had been received from a private developer, the Kilbride Group, to restore the Knockmore line, indicating that he would be prepared to part fund a study into this if the local authorities provided the rest of the funding. The route is also included in a wider study of the development of the Northern Rail Corridor due at the end of 2009

The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 identifies the need to improve transport links to Belfast City Airport from the city centre. The BMAP proposed a light rail system from the city centre that would have interchanged with a new railway station at Tillysburn, which could serve both the airport and the Holywood Exchange retail development. However, in April 2008, the decision was taken not to proceed with the light rail project, with the DRD instead choosing to implement a new bus based network. The pressure group Rail 21 have also stated that the Tillysburn proposal is insufficient for what the new station is expected to provide - a link to the airport, transport provision for Holywood Exchange and a park and ride facility. Instead they propose that, instead of the Tillysburn station, which will still be some distance from the airport terminal, providing rail links to the airport, a dedicated airport station, similar to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, should be connected directly to the terminal, with Tillysburn located half a mile away serving Holywood Exchange.

There have also been calls, as part of the wider upgrade of the rail route to Derry, for a railway station connecting to City of Derry Airport, which is close to the railway line. However, the Government have determined that the number of passengers using the airport is not sufficient to justify a new railway station.

Rolling stock
Although the introduction of the Class 3000 trains has been considered a success, this is tempered by fact that they were a like for like replacement for the Class 80 units, rather than an expansion of the fleet. Due to the limited number of new units in service, some of NIR's older rolling stock has had to be retained, most notably the entire Class 450 on the Belfast-Larne route. To enable NIR to maintain its levels of service, it has set about upgrading some of its older rolling stock. In 2005, the entire Class 450 fleet was refurbished to a standard close to that of the Class 3000 units, which, it is intended, will see them through to their intended withdrawal date of around 2012. There will be refurbishment of up to three 4-car Class 80 units, and the conversion of the locomotives and coaches to push-pull operation with the addition of the DBSO obtained from 'one', to ensure that passenger rolling stock levels can be maintained up to the introduction of new rolling stock.

One of the major projects instigated by Translink is what it initially termed "New Trains Two" (formerly "New Trains 2010"), which will see the purchase of a new batch of rolling stock. At minimum, this was to be a like for like replacement of the Class 450 trains, which are due to be withdrawn by 2012. However, it has been determined that in order to deliver improved frequency of service on the network the size of NIR's fleet must be increased, and with that must come associated infrastructure improvements. The announcement of the investment programme confirmed "New Trains 2010", which will procure at least 20 new trains to both replace the remaining Class 80 and Class 450 units and provide additional capacity. The specification given by the DRD also states that the new trains are to be used to provide both inner and outer suburban commuter services and express services between Belfast and Dublin. The Class 4000 fleet is estimated to enter service by 2011. A total of twenty 3-car units have been specified to be purchased, with an option to purchase an additional twenty vehicles allowing the fleet to be lengthened to 4-cars.