Yorkgate railway station serves the north of the city of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Northern Ireland. The station opened in 1992, replacing the previous

York Road railway station York Road railway station (also referred to as Belfast York Road) served the north of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was formerly one of the three terminus railway stations in Belfast. The others were Great Victoria Street, and Queen's Quay ...

nearby. As at May 2021 there are plans to rebuild Yorkgate.

History

Following the demolition of station in 1992, a new station had to be constructed to serve the in-development Cross Harbour Rail Link. Yorkgate station was therefore constructed to the side of the original site of York Road station, and served as a temporary terminus for Larne Line services until the completion of the high-level Dargan Bridge, which joined the Larne Line to the rest of the NIR network at , allowing services to run from Yorkgate directly through to the city. The rest of the site of York Road station is now occupied by Northern Ireland Railways' central maintenance depot, while the old works remain, a few yards to the north and backing on to York Road itself. The majority of the depot is visible when passing by train.

Current service

From Monday to Friday, there is a half-hourly Larne Line service, with the outbound terminus alternating between and every half an hour. All inbound Larne Line services terminate at , except for some early morning and late night services which only travel as far as . Larne Line services on Saturday retain their half-hourly operation, but there are fewer peak-time trains. On Sundays, the service reduces to hourly operation. Weekday services on the Derry~Londonderry Line also call at Yorkgate on an hourly basis. All inbound services operate to , with some peak time services terminating at . Outbound trains alternate hourly between services to , and services to , most of which continue on to via the Coleraine-Portrush railway line. On Saturdays, there is a slightly reduced number of Derry~Londondery Line trains, but remains largely similar. On Sundays, the service reduces to seven trains in each direction operating on a two-hourly basis. All services operate between Great Victoria Street and Londonderry Waterside, except for the final train of the day, which only operates as far as Coleraine.

Port of Belfast

Yorkgate is the nearest station to the

Port of Belfast Belfast Harbour is a major maritime hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, handling 67% of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade and about 25% of the maritime trade of the entire island of Ireland. It is a vital gateway for raw materials, exports and c ...

. Sailings travel from here to Cairnryan, where there is a bus link to or . From here, onward connections can be made along the

Glasgow South Western Line The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride. History The line was built by several railway compan ...

to .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yorkgate Railway Station Railway stations in Belfast Railway stations opened in 1992 Railway stations opened by NI Railways Railway stations served by NI Railways Railway stations serving harbours and ports in the United Kingdom