The railway network of Northern Ireland comprises of 54 stations. There are a small number of railway lines and stations that have been raised as potential opportunities to expand the railway network. No schemes are being constructed at the moment.
Most schemes were proposed in the Railway Investment Prioritisation Strategy published in May 2014.
Proposed stations
Templepatrick
Proposed railway station located on the Belfast-Derry line between Mossley West and Antrim. Another proposal would serve the nearby Ballymartin Park and Ride at Junction 5 of the M2
Lisburn West/Knockmore
This station would be located on the Belfast-Newry line.
Tillysburn
This station would be located between Sydenham and Holywood on the Belfast-Bangor line. It is hoped that the station would benefit from passengers using Belfast City Airport.
Belfast, Donegall Quay
Located between Central Station and Yorkgate, this proposed station relies on dualling of the line through the centre of Belfast.
Craigavon
Located north east of Portadown on the railway line between Belfast and Dublin.
Eglinton/Ballykelly
Two proposed stations near Derry.
Proposed lines
Lisburn-Antrim
This was the former Belfast to Derry route. It is being promoted as an opportunity to connect Belfast International Airport to the rail network with a station at Aldergrove.
Portadown-Armagh
Portadown-Dungannon/Omagh
Antrim-Castledawson
Northern Ireland – Scotland (fixed connection)
An option promoted to enhance the transport infrastructure of the United Kingdom is to create a fixed connection between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. There are four options, two of which connect Northern Ireland to Scotland.
The most realistic option is to connect Galloway to Northern Ireland, using a rail connection to Portpatrick, Scotland and connecting to Larne in Northern Ireland.
A shorter route is available by connecting Kintyre to County Antrim. The issue is that the Scottish portal would be nowhere near the rail network in Scotland meaning that two further sea crossings or a substantial diversion would be required to enable a quick connection to the central belt of Scotland.
As well as feasibility, there are concerns about crossing Beaufort’s Dyke, which is a steep trench in the Irish Sea that has been used to dump munitions and radioactive material. In addition, the railway networks of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have different railway gauges, which would need to be reviewed, particularly if there were plans for services to operate across the sea link from the Republic of Ireland.
Two other options would connect the Republic of Ireland to Wales. One option would connect Dublin to Holyhead and a second option would connect Rosslare to Fishguard.
Options for crossing the Irish Sea include a tunnel or a tunnel/bridge, which would be similar to the Oresund crossing between Denmark and Sweden.