Knockmore Railway Station - History

History

The station is near Knockmore Junction, which was came into service in 1863 for the Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Junction Railway (BLB) to connect with the Ulster Railway. The junction gained another branch in 1871 when the Dublin and Antrim Junction Railway (D&A, now the Lisburn–Antrim railway line) was opened. The Ulster Railway, BLB and D&A all became part of the GNR by the end of the 1870s. The GNR was nationalised in 1953 as the GNR Board, which closed Banbridge branch on 29 April 1956.

In 2003 NIR reopened the more direct Belfast – Antrim route via Whiteabbey and withdrew passenger services from the Lisburn – Antrim line. This left Knockmore station with a train service in only one direction: "down" trains from Belfast to Portadown. Unsurprisingly this arrangement was not well-used so on 25 March 2005 NIR closed Knockmore station. The "up" platform still remains. NIR have included in their corporate plans for a new Knockmore park and ride station further down the line called Lisburn West. The station would serve both trains from Bangor-Newry via Belfast Central, Lisburn and Portadown and trains from Newry-Bangor via Portadown, Lisburn and Belfast Central.