Belfast Central is a railway station serving the city of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is one of the four stations located in Belfast City Centre, the others being Great Victoria Street, City Hospital and Botanic.
Located on East Bridge Street in the city, Central is the northern terminus of the cross border Enterprise service to Dublin Connolly, which runs every two hours. As well as this service, Central is also served by Northern Ireland Railways, which operates routes to other locations in Northern Ireland, including Derry, Bangor, Portadown and Larne.
Regular services also operate between Central and the city's other main station: Great Victoria Street. Intending passengers travelling to and from Central are at present, upon presentation of a valid rail ticket, permitted to travel at no cost on Belfast's Metro service to the city centre.
Despite the name of the station, it is significantly further from Belfast city centre than Great Victoria Street station. Contrary to popular belief, Central Station is in fact so named because it is on the former trackbed of the Belfast Central Railway, which was built in the early 1870s. The station itself was opened on 26 April 1976. The first Station Manager was Mr John Johnston.
By the 1990s, it became clear that the facilities at Central were in need of upgrading. A major refurbishment programme started in 2000 and was completed in 2003.
There are two Island Platforms at Belfast Central, capable of accommodating trains up to 9 coaches long. Enterprise services are only able to serve platforms 2 and 4 due to the curvature of the track.
Platform 1 is used by southbound trains from Derry or Portrush on their way to Great Victoria Street. Platform 2 tends to be used for Enterprise services to Dublin. Platform 3 is a bi-directional platform used for northbound trains heading to Derry, Portrush and Bangor, and by trains coming from Bangor en route to Portadown via Great Victoria Street and Platform 4 is used for trains terminating off the Larne Line.
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