The Lisburn–Antrim line is a railway line of

Northern Ireland Railways NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (NIR; and for a brief period Ulster Transport Railways; UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent company is the Northern Ireland Tr ...

. It links Knockmore Junction on the Belfast–Newry line with on the

Belfast–Derry line The Belfast–Derry line (referred to as the Derry~Londonderry Line by NI Railways) is an intercity railway line, running from Belfast to Derry in Northern Ireland. It is the westernmost railway line in the United Kingdom. Like all other railwa ...

. It has been closed to passenger services since 2003.

History

The line was authorised by the ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. cxxii) and opened in 1871 as the Dublin and Antrim Junction Railway. The train service on the line was provided by the

Ulster Railway The Ulster Railway was a railway company operating in Ulster, Ireland. The company was incorporated in 1836 and merged with two other railway companies in 1876 to form the Great Northern Railway (Ireland). History The Ulster Railway was au ...

until 1876, and by the Ulster Railway's successor the Great Northern Railway thereafter.Hajducki, 1974, page xiii In 1879 the D&A Junction ceased to be a separate company and was absorbed by the GNR.

Current status

The line is currently closed to passengers after all rail services were withdrawn from the line in June 2003. The stations at , , Legatiriff Halt, and Crumlin have all been closed. Translink's reason for closing the line was that it was unable to maintain two routes to Antrim economically. The –Antrim line, which had been closed since 1978, was reopened in 2001, providing a faster route between Belfast Central (now Lanyon Place), Antrim and Derry~Londonderry. Translink operated a skeleton service on the line, but then gave notice that it would be shut. The route is still maintained and is used for crew training and train diversions, for example, for passenger services on 9 and 23 October 2011 when there were weekend engineering works at . Speculation remains that the line could one day re-open under plans to operate a Belfast – Lisburn – Antrim – Belfast circular route, with the possibility of a station for

Belfast International Airport Belfast International Airport is an international airport northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland, and is the main airport for the city of Belfast. Until 1983, it was known as Aldergrove Airport, after the nearby village of Aldergrove, Cou ...

which is close to the line at Aldergrove. In 2012, a section of railway embankment, weakened by weather near , gave way as a train was about to pass over. The driver managed to stop and reverse the train away without incident. The embankment has since been repaired. In January 2015, the two

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

s on the line, at Crumlin and , were decommissioned and removed, leaving no more passing points on the line. On Monday 12 September 2016, the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

announced that they would propose a motion to re-open the line as part of an Airport Link. It could mean that services could resume on the line in the near future. It would likely mean that would be replaced by the new station at the site of the old SERC building a little further down the line. On Sunday 10 November 2019, units 3002+3003 worked a radio test train over the NIR network, including the Lisburn to Antrim line with the stations Lisburn West, Ballinderry,

Glenavy Glenavy () is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is approximately 11 miles west of Belfast and eight miles north-west of Lisburn, and sits on the banks of the Glenavy river. In the 2011 census it had a population ...

, Crumlin and

being included. In late 2022, Translink showed timelined plans for the 'Lisburn Area Renewals'. The work is set to start in October 2022 and last until spring of 2024. Maps from Translink showed an 'Antrim Branch' is to receive new bi-directional

railway signalling Railway signalling (), or railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormous weight ...

. This development is to be combined with plans for a Lisburn West Station. On 1 March 2023, the Alliance Party announced that MLA David Honeyford had secured a commitment from Translink to undertake a feasibility study into reopening the Knockmore Line. On 19 June 2023, FundTheNINE posted on their Twitter detailing a meeting they had with Translink four days prior. FundTheNINE revealed that 'Translink hope to appoint a consultant to undertake the feasibility study within the next 6 months, with the feasibility study taking around 8 months to complete...the overall timeframe for reopening the Knockmore Line is around 4–6 years from the time of the meeting'. On 4 March 2025, Infrastructure Minister

Liz Kimmins Liz Kimmins MLA is a Sinn Féin politician, serving as Minister for Infrastructure since February 2025. She has also served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Newry and Armagh constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly since ...

confirmed in the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

that the feasibility study into reopening the Knockmore Line was nearing completion. The study, funded by the UK Department for Transport's Union Connectivity Fund, is examining the potential reopening of Ballinderry, Glenavy, and Crumlin stations, as well as appraising three possible locations for a new station at Belfast International Airport.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Translink - Northern Ireland Railways
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisburn-Antrim line Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Closed railways in Northern Ireland Transport in County Antrim Lisburn Antrim, County Antrim Irish-gauge railways