Tillysburn railway station explained

Coordinates:54.619°N -5.8633°W
Opened:1848
Closed:1945
Original:Belfast and County Down Railway
Address:Belfast, Northern Ireland

Tillysburn railway station was a railway station on the Bangor line of the Belfast and County Down Railway. It opened in 1848, closed in 1945 and was located 2miles from the Queens Quay terminus.[1]

As of the 2000s, the site was proposed as a station to serve the area between Belfast and Holywood on the Bangor line. The "Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015", published in 2014, proposed that the station be used as part of a rail link to both the Holywood Exchange retail development and George Best Belfast City Airport.[2] As of 2009, it was reported that the station would serve the planned national stadium and as a park and ride facility for the areas around Holywood.[3]

The pressure group, Rail 21, in a submission to the BMAP plan, raised objections about what the new station was expected to do, in that the proposed site was a similar distance from the airport terminal to Sydenham station. Instead, the pressure group proposed a dedicated airport station, with Tillysburn used for the retail development and as a park and ride.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BCDR RAILWAY - COMBER RAILWAY - PART TWO . Comber Historical Society . 23 August 2016 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120319051827/http://comberhistory.com/comberBCDR.htm . 19 March 2012.
  2. Web site: Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 District Proposals: Belfast Harbour Area Transportation . Northern Ireland Planning Service . 2014 . 23 Aug 2016 . 1 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140401210348/http://www.planningni.gov.uk/index/policy/dev_plans/devplans_az/bmap_2015/bmap_district_proposals/bmap_belfast/bmap_belfast_city/bmap_belfast_harbour/bmap_belfast_harbour_strategy/bmap_belfast_harbour_transportation.htm . dead.
  3. News: Blanchflower Stadium: plan for train station . Mckee . Linda . 25 March 2009 . Belfast Telegraph . 21 December 2016.
  4. Web site: New Railway Station at Tillysburn . Rail 21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090620014227/http://www.pacni.gov.uk/areaplan/document.asp?docID=227&filetype=Objector . 20 June 2009 . dead.