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28-473: Opened in 1976, the centre is the one of the oldest and the third largest shopping centre in Northern Ireland, behind Belfast's Victoria Square and Derry's Foyleside , at over 350,000 sq ft, although combined with the retail park makes it over 480,000 sq ft. The anchor tenant of the centre is Primark , while the retail park's anchors are Homebase and Matalan . On 21 September 1976, Rushmere opened to

56-470: A new neighbourhood which Translink has named 'Weaver's Cross'. This 100,000 m site is planned to comprise leisure, residential and commercial facilities. Weaver's Cross, combined with the station and a rejuvenated Glengall Street, Hope Street and Durham Street, will become Station Quarter , Belfast's ninth Cultural Quarter . By February 2021, the first stage of enabling works was completed by construction contractor company Graham Construction, clearing

84-512: Is also planned. 54°27′03″N 6°23′25″W  /  54.4507°N 6.3904°W  / 54.4507; -6.3904 Victoria Square Shopping Centre Victoria Square is a shopping complex located in Belfast , Northern Ireland . The area includes over 62 shops, 16 restaurants and an Odeon cinema. Opened on 6 March 2008, Victoria Square is a commercial, residential and leisure development that took 6 years to build. Its anchor tenant

112-513: Is built next to its predecessors, in a new neighbourhood called Weaver's Cross. The first bus service, to Dublin , departed from the station on 8 September 2024, and the first rail service, also to Dublin, departed from the station on 13 October 2024. The first railway station in Ulster was opened on the site of the former Great Victoria Street station in 1839 on the Ulster Railway . It became

140-528: Is nearby. On 24 November 2013, a car bomb detonated outside a Victoria Square car park. There were no injuries. Belfast Grand Central Station Belfast Grand Central station (originally the Belfast Transport Hub ) is a railway and bus station in the city centre of Belfast , Northern Ireland . It has replaced Great Victoria Street railway station and the Europa Buscentre . It

168-730: Is the biggest and was one of the most expensive property developments ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. An element of the development is two covered, multi-level streets linked to the glass dome, which measures 37 m in diameter and 45 m in height. A public square covered entirely by the glass dome serves as the hub of the entire area. The Jaffe Fountain, constructed in the 1870s by former Lord Mayor Otto Jaffe in memory of his father, has been restored to its original location in Victoria Square. There are pedestrian links to nearby business, nightlife and shopping streets on Laganside, Donegall Place, Royal Avenue and Ann Street. A large section of

196-445: Is the largest House of Fraser (now Frasers) that the retailer has opened in the UK, at nearly 200,000 square feet (19,000 m ). Victoria Square was developed by Multi Development UK Ltd. The architects were Building Design Partnership and T+T Design, the in house architects of Multi Corporation. At approximately 800,000 square feet (74,000 m ) and costing £400m, Victoria Square

224-473: The 8-hectare (860,000 sq ft) for construction. The next stage of development, from February 2021, involved the relocating of bus engineering and operation facilities to new accommodation, and the construction of a new bus wash facility, engineering garage, storage facilities and a bus parking area. The Main Works and Infrastructure Enhancement phases of the project were expected to be conducted in 2022, with

252-507: The Bangor Line, the station operates a half-hourly stopping service to Bangor on weekdays and Saturdays, with additional express services at peak times. On Sundays, the line reduces to hourly operation between Grand Central and Bangor. The Derry~Londonderry Line operates an hourly service to Derry~Londonderry on weekdays and Saturdays, with some extra peak services terminating at Coleraine . On Sundays, this services remains hourly, however

280-741: The Europa Buscentre was to be Saturday, 7 September, 2024. On 4 September 2024, Translink invited the press for a final preview of Grand Central Station before its official opening. It also announced that the station's first departure would be the X1 Goldline bus service to Dublin Busáras , scheduled for 8 September 2024 at 05:00 UTC+1. On 8 September 2024, Belfast Grand Central welcomed its first bus passengers, with services to Dublin Busáras via Dublin Airport and Belfast International Airport . Amir Kumat

308-460: The Grand Central enabling works scheduled for the summer. All stations between these two points were closed, with a temporary shuttle service running between Portadown and Lisburn. Enterprise passengers traveling to/from Belfast took a bus to/from Newry train station. On 8 July 2024, Translink launched a series of 11 videos across all its social media channels titled " The Grand Connection: Behind

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336-715: The Scenes at Belfast Grand Central Station ." These videos showcased the progress made since the closure of Great Victoria Street station in May and highlighted how stakeholders and interest groups contributed to the station's development. On 13 August 2024, the first trains began arriving at the station for driver training runs. A NIR 4000 Class train operated these runs between Belfast Lanyon Place and Belfast Grand Central and Adelaide Depot . On 19 August 2024, Translink announced that bus operations at Belfast Grand Central would commence on Sunday, 8 September 2024. The final day of operations at

364-551: The center's roof is covered in Sedum in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint of Victoria Square. The development spans approximately 800,000 ft² (75,000m²) of retail over four floors. Q-Park provides 2 levels of basement parking with approx. 1,000 car spaces. The retail space includes 98 unit shops, with leisure units including an 8 screen Odeon Cinema . There are also restaurants, bars and cafés . The development also included 106 apartments. Belfast Grand Central Station

392-466: The centre, and again in 2018 with Nando's and Five Guys opening. During the early 2020s, Rushmere had a major drop in footfall and tenants resulting in the closures of Topshop , Five Guys, Dorothy Perkins / Burton , Debenhams and Sainsbury's, this was mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In 2022, the company behind Rushmere, Central Craigavon Ltd was placed into administration , Killahoey Ltd bought

420-541: The former Great Victoria Street, it is the terminus of Northern Ireland Railways' Derry , Larne , Bangor and Newry lines. This also means that the Portadown to Bangor route no longer has direct through traffic and is divided into two separate lines. The Enterprise express service to Dublin has moved from Lanyon Place as part of the project, meaning the flagship express service between Belfast and Dublin terminates here. The bus station features 26 stands, eight more than

448-484: The new Grand Central station was scheduled to open in autumn 2024. On 29 May 2024, the first " The Grand Connection Roadshow " was held at Lanyon Place Train Station to communicate plans for the facility. The roadshow toured various locations throughout Northern Ireland, including shopping centres and train and bus stations. On 3 July 2024, Translink closed the rail line between Lisburn and Belfast Lanyon Place to facilitate

476-637: The northern terminus of the GNR 's non-stop Dublin –Belfast express in 1947, and in 1962, platform 5 was removed to allow construction of a bus station providing a truly integrated bus-rail station for the first time in Belfast's history. Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) closed the railway part of the station altogether in 1976 and the original buildings were demolished, being replaced by the Europa Hotel and Great Northern Mall. Railway services resumed, however, in 1995 with

504-468: The opening of a rebuilt Great Victoria Street station, integrated with the Europa Buscentre . The station is located on a 8-hectare (860,000 sq ft) site owned by The Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (trading as Translink ) between the former Europa Buscentre and Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station, both of which it replaces. The station's capacity is designed to cater for twenty million passenger journeys annually, more than

532-399: The previous Europa Bus Centre. Seating is available throughout, with priority seating at select stands. The station also offers a range of amenities, including ATMs, vending machines, automated ticket machines, a help desk, a water refill station, and a sensory pod . There are accessible male and female restrooms, as well as Changing Places facilities. The area surrounding the hub will become

560-497: The project due for completion in 2024/2025. The project was said to potentially create 400 jobs over a five-year period. The main works of the project were delivered by a joint venture of Farrans Construction and Sacyr , with railway system works by Babcock . The Busway Bridge was completed in August 2023. In April 2024, it was announced that Great Victoria Street station would close permanently on 10 May 2024, several months before

588-473: The public as the Craigavon Shopping Centre, and the anchor tenants were Dunnes Stores and Crazy Prices along with stores such as Marley Homecare and Eason . In 1998, the Craigavon Shopping Centre reopened as Rushmere as part of a major expansion which saw a Sainsbury's store open. The site was expanded again in 2004 with Debenhams opening as the main tenant in a 150,000 sq ft extension of

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616-508: The reopening of the Belfast to Lisburn Line. Rail services began operating from the station on Sunday, 13 October 2024. The first departure was the 08:05 Enterprise service to Dublin Connolly, with a once-a-week stop at Lisburn and Lurgan , continuing on to Portadown , Newry , Dundalk Clarke , Drogheda MacBride , and finally, Dublin Connolly . The first arrival was the 09:15 Translink NI Railways service from Portadown. On board this train

644-447: The same alternating terminus pattern - this has the effect of providing a two-hourly service to all stations beyond Whitehead. The Portadown/Newry Line operates a half-hourly stopping service to Portadown on weekdays and Saturdays, with additional services (some operating as expresses) at peak times to Lisburn and Newry . On Sundays the line reduces to hourly operation between Grand Central and Portadown, with Newry only being served by

672-432: The struggling shopping centre from the company later in 2023. In the same year, Primark opened on the ground floor of the former Debenhams. In 2023, Rushmere began a redevelopment scheme to enhance the shopping experience, with a complete facelift to the centre, new stores and a subdivision of the former Sainsbury's supermarket into multiple stores being planned, set to be finished by December 2024. A new Lidl supermarket

700-901: The terminus alternates every hour between Derry~Londonderry and Portrush . This results in only a two-hourly service to all stations beyond Coleraine. The Enterprise currently operates as an hourly service on the Dublin Line to Dublin Connolly via Portadown, Newry, Dundalk Clarke and Drogheda MacBride from Monday to Saturday. The Sunday service is two-hourly. On the Larne Line, the station operates half-hourly services on weekdays and Saturdays. The terminus for these services alternates every half-hour between Larne Harbour and Whitehead . Additional peak-time services operate to Carrickfergus and Larne Town . This pattern results in an hourly service to Larne Harbour. The service reduces to hourly after 7pm. On Sundays, an hourly service runs on this line with

728-720: The twelve million combined capacity of the pre-existing bus and railway station. In addition to rail and bus improvements, the station also has cycle and taxi provision for enhanced connectivity, with 300 cycle parking spaces. It is said to be the "largest integrated transport facility on the island of Ireland ". During construction the transport hub was described as one of the Northern Ireland Executive 's "flagship projects". The new station has eight platforms (double that of Great Victoria Street and Belfast Lanyon Place ), composed of four island platforms with two faces each. Two of these islands are short and two long. Like

756-515: Was reportedly the first passenger to enter the station, heading for Belfast International Airport. The former Europa Buscentre was converted into a corridor connecting Belfast Grand Central to Great Victoria Street. On 23 September 2024, the cross-border Enterprise service began trial runs at the new station, in advance of its relocation from Belfast Lanyon Place. On 3 October 2024, Translink announced that train services at Belfast Grand Central Station would commence on 13 October 2024, which marked

784-523: Was the Minister for Infrastructure, John O'Dowd . Also present at the commencement of services was Translink's CEO, Chris Conway. The first 2000 passengers to use the station received a commemorative ticket. Some issues with the scheme have arisen, including: Grand Central acts as the terminus for all active railway lines in Northern Ireland, with the exception of the Coleraine-Portrush line . On

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