“All of the entrances to the station, coming up Glengall Street, the Grosvenor Road, Hope Street, will all get public realm works so people coming to the station and visitors will see a nice entrance to the station,” he said. Mr Conway said the station is a major opportunity to regenerate this area of Belfast. Whenever the Northern Ireland executive gets up and running, we hope that will become policy and we can start planning some of those projects,” he said.

“That will be a forerunner for work that will come behind that on the All-Island Strategic Rail Review. He said they have put a bid in for a new rail fleet for the cross-border service, aimed to come on stream for 2028. “That will allow a major investment in public transport right across Northern Ireland, and allow us to achieve a greater mode shift from the private car to public transport, address climate change, address air quality and get more people using public transport in a modern way in a modern city.” In terms of the Belfast to Dublin Enterprise railway service, Mr Conway said they are working with Irish Rail with a view to introducing an hourly service in the future.

“It will be a major transformation for public transport, allowing 20 million passenger journeys a year to come through this station,” he said. Public transport operator Translink’s chief executive Chris Conway said the new station will be around 10 times the size of the current Europa Bus Centre and Great Victoria Street train station. A model of what the completed station will look like.

Meridian at grosvenor station