Translink

The North West Transport hub: is Waterside Railway station really closed to trains?

Andy Boal on March 28, 2018, 9:04 am

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I wouldn’t be much of a railway enthusiast if I didn’t want to see trains returning to the inside of the original Waterside station. It’s an iconic image: a train, perhaps headed by a steam engine, with the carriages stretching back into the darkness of what is actually a well lit area, but don’t spoil the atmosphere. Something which has not been seen in Northern Ireland since Waterside station closed in 1980, but can be experienced at Dublin Connolly when …

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

David McCann on September 29, 2017, 10:34 am

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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 …

Whatever happened to the 1991 aspiration of a 95 minutes train journey between Belfast and Dublin? #20yearrule

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 25, 2017, 3:40 pm

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1 HOUR 35 MINUTE direct Belfast-Dublin train journeys envisaged in 1990/1 according to government files released under the 30/20 Year Rule. Today’s journey time – with four extra stops – is never faster than 2 hours 5 minutes. Why?

Why extra competition for Translink could in fact make things worse. Far worse.

Andy Boal on August 2, 2017, 7:35 pm

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Brian let me see his post before he published it earlier on today, but it lacks context. That context is the purpose of a private company, ie to make money. As I’ve outlined before, here, here and here and probably other places besides, there are several fundamental problems with the operating model in Northern Ireland. The first is that Translink is expected to run loss-making services on no more than the cash it gets in the farebox and for concessionary …

We need to remove the Translink monopoly on bus routes to deal with congestion and get people out of their cars…

Brian O'Neill on August 2, 2017, 5:02 pm

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If you commute into Belfast by car, you will know it is a pretty hellish experience. Congestion is getting worse. At peak times the Westlink is like a car park. Trains are already at capacity, so the best option is to increase bus usage. The Guardian has this to say about the benefits of bus services in England: The M25 has 790 miles of lanes. If these are used by cars carrying the average load of 1.6 occupants, at 60mph …

Interview with Translink CEO Chris Conway

Andy Boal on September 20, 2016, 9:28 am

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Thursday afternoon in the Europa Buscentre, and knowing I’ve been scooped by the Business Telegraph (the price of blogging), I meet with Chris Conway in the conference room. We’ve met before, as I happened to be at Stormont for an Autism event on the day Translink launched Train and Bus week, but this chat has been pre-arranged to talk about the new ticketing systems. Phone is recording the audio (no boos today), and we dive fairly quickly into the new …

New Belfast-Dublin Enterprise timetable proposed from 21 Jan 2016: earlier start, longer journeys

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 4, 2015, 4:19 pm

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ENTERPRISE TIMETABLE from January 31st proposes a new 06:15 service leaving Belfast Central and arriving in Dublin Connolly at 08:41. However the last service to Dublin on a weekday evening will leave Belfast at 20:05. A certain times, the bus is faster than the train!

The three things a public allegation can tell us about local news

CM Johnston on November 1, 2015, 7:31 pm

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The impressively direct update from Translink yesterday to a recent allegation that a teenage boy had been turned away from one of their buses brought an apparent end to a story that was very much ‘of a type’: a single accusation made by a member of the public against a large organisation then left to respond to a sudden social media storm. This piece isn’t about the Translink/ Linfield jacket story as I have no idea what happened that day …

Tall Ships have arrived (2-5th July)

David McCann on July 2, 2015, 11:33 am

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Yesterday Alan and myself had the opportunity to take a trip on the water to look around the Tall Ships festival which is starting today in Belfast. We were treated to a 90 minute tour of the Belfast Harbour which will be hosting nearly 50 tall ships for 3 days. Here I must declare an interest: I am a bit of a boat fan. It’s not that I know a lot about sailing or anything, but I do like the …

Coleraine-Waterside Phase 2 contract awarded

Andy Boal on June 15, 2015, 12:54 pm

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With the controversy well recounted over the escalation of costs for the upgrade of this section of railway line, I think I should start this post with a little explanation well known to those of us who have ever been involved in procurement, whether public sector or private sector. Basically, and regardless of the skills of your Quantity Surveyor who has their ear to the ground and knows very well what the going rate is for the materials needed for …

Committee for Regional Development has “No confidence” in the Department’s budgeting abilities

Andy Boal on June 10, 2015, 7:06 am

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Having had a motion of no confidence in the DRD’s ability to budget passed in the Assembly last night (including recycling my own reference to Oliver Twist but not necessarily as cleverly), a relationship which has at best been difficult appears to have descended into outright hostility between the Committee for Regional Development on the one hand and the Minister, Danny Kennedy, and his Departmental officials on the other. I have written before about the difficulties faced with the 2015-16 …

Experiences of bus privatisation in GB

Andy Boal on May 30, 2015, 2:31 pm

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As threatened a number of times, I’ve finally pulled together this piece on why bus privatisation isn’t all it’s made out to be (cross-posted to my own site, where I’ve included a bibliography) I simply want to walk through the scenarios for privatisation we have seen in GB since 1986 and their pitfalls. Deregulation The main model followed in GB outside London was to deregulate bus transport. All publicly owned bus companies, including municipal fleets, were privatised, either by sale …

No surprises as Translink warns of fare increases and service cuts

Andy Boal on March 4, 2015, 3:23 pm

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Before you keep reading this, check my earlier articles here, here, and especially here. BBC News is reporting that David Strahan, current Chief Executive of Translink, has given a gloomy outlook to the Committee for Regional Development on fare rises and service cuts. Missing from the media reports is that their subsidy is being cut by more than £12 million, and they used £12 million in reserves last year to avoid a fare rise – so the real shortfall is …

Details emerging on Translink fare rises

Andy Boal on February 9, 2015, 7:47 pm

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Hat tip to Martin Baumann, who sent me this photograph of a poster today. I’m still waiting to hear, as are all of us, what the impact in cash terms will be on Ulsterbus and Metro, beyond a statement in December that Metro cash fares (and by extension the three lowest Ulsterbus fares) would go up by 10p each – it isn’t clear, for example, whether Metro smartlink fares will also rise by 10p. Where I want to start the …

Cyclist beats “embarrassing” train in race from Derry to Belfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 24, 2014, 1:47 pm

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An SDLP press release issued today reveals the results of a “bicycle versus train” challenge on Sunday, travelling between Derry and Belfast. John Madden and Peter Jack set off from Derry’s General Post Office at 9.15am. John threw his leg over his bicycle and broke the Derry to Belfast record (held by Morris ‘Big Mo’ Foster) as he pedalled down to Belfast Albert Memorial Clock (avoiding motorways) in 2 hours 27 minutes. Meanwhile Peter caught the 09:42 train from Londonderry …

Translink: “a great set of results”

Pete Baker on October 14, 2010, 12:47 pm

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That was Translink’s Ciaran Rogan’s response to the customer satisfaction survey which rated high overall satisfaction levels amongst Translink passengers. I don’t think they asked those who ‘walked the plank’ on the Dublin to Belfast train today… But the survey also revealed 2.5 million fewer journeys taken by the public compared to last year – down from 80.7 million in 2008/09 to 78.2 million in 2009/10. From the BBC report Ryan Simpson, Senior Consumer Affairs Officer at the Consumer Council, welcomed the …