Larne Town railway station

Larne Town railway station serves Larne in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This station opened in 1974, and is one of two stations in the town, the other being Larne Harbour. It is the penultimate stop on the Belfast-Larne railway line.

Larne Town
NIR Class 450 train at Larne Town station in 2006
General information
Location	Circular Road, Larne Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°51′01″N 5°48′51″W
Owned by	NI Railways
Operated by	NI Railways
Line(s)	Larne
Platforms	1
Tracks	1
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Key dates
1862	Original station opened
1877	B&LR station opened
1933	B&LR passenger traffic stopped
1950	B&LR station closed
1965	Goods traffic stopped
1974	Original station closed
1974	Current station opened on new alignment
Passengers
2022/23	163,531 [1]
2023/24	208,562 [2]
NI Railways Translink NI railway stations
Route map (Click to expand) Show NI Railways Network map Legend Year closed Great Victoria Street 2024 Belfast Grand Central Belfast-Dublin line to Portadown, Newry, Dublin Connolly City Hospital Botanic Tunnel Botanic Lanyon Place River Lagan Belfast–Bangor railway line to Sydenham, Holywood, Bangor River Lagan (Lagan Viaduct) Belfast Harbour Cross Harbour Rail Link York Street Yorkgate 2024 York Road depot York Road 1992 Greencastle 1954 Whitehouse 1954 Whiteabbey Belfast–Derry railway line to Ballymena, Coleraine, Derry~Londonderry Bleach Green 1977 Jordanstown Belfast–Derry railway line via Monkstown 1963 Greenisland Trooperslane Mount 1977 Harbour branch line to Carrickfergus Harbour Clipperstown Carrickfergus Barn 1977 Downshire Eden 1977 Kilroot 1977 Whitehead Whitehead Excursion RPSI depot Ballycarry Magheramorne Glynn Larne Town Ballymena and Larne Railway to Kilwaughter, Kells, Ballymena Larne Harbour This diagram: view talk edit Show Larne line route diagram
Location Larne Town Location within Northern Ireland Show map of Northern Ireland Larne Town Location on the island of Ireland Show map of island of Ireland

History

The original station (signposted solely as "Larne") was sited further west than the current station, on land between Circular Road and Larne Lough by the mouth of the Inver River. This station was a larger affair than the current station, with a through platform, bay platform, signalbox and goods yard, and was opened in on 1 October 1862 by the Carrickfergus & Larne Railway.

A small station was also constructed slightly further north by the Ballymena & Larne Railway on (appropriately) Narrow Gauge Road. Although the narrow-gauge B&LR had a link to allow running to Larne Harbour, there was no direct connection to the Irish-gauge C&LR Larne station. Passenger services on the B&LR line ceased in 1933, and the line was closed altogether in 1950. The site of the B&LR station is now buried under the A8 dual carriageway.

In the 1970s, road improvement plans necessitated the closure and re-siting of Larne station. A new track alignment was constructed on reclaimed land further out into Larne Lough, diverging from the original C&LR alignment at a point southeast of the original Larne station, and moving back onto the existing Harbour line at what is now Glynnview Avenue. Larne Town was then constructed as a single-platform station on this new alignment with a small ticket office, opening in June 1974 - the suffix "Town" being added at this time to help distinguish it from Larne Harbour station.^[3] The original Larne station was demolished soon after, and no traces of the original station remain today - the old Circular Road site and the original track alignment are now occupied by various retail units and the local bus station.

Service

Mondays to Saturdays there is an hourly service towards Larne Harbour or Belfast Grand Central with extra services at peak times. Some of those peak services start and terminate here rather than Larne Harbour.

On Sundays there is a service every two hours in either direction to Larne Harbour or Belfast Grand Central .^[4]

Preceding station		Northern Ireland Railways		Following station
Glynn		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Larne		Larne Harbour
	Historical railways
Glynn Line and station open		Northern Counties Committee Belfast-Larne		Larne Harbour Line and station open
Kilwaughter Line and station closed		Ballymena and Larne Railway Ballymena-Larne		Larne Harbour Line closed, station open.

Gallery

• 
  The original Larne station during demolition in 1974.
• 
  UTA 70 Class train leaving Larne Town in 1977.
• 
  Larne Town station in 2013.

References

1. "FOI1317 NIR Footfall 2223.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
2. "FOI Footfall 2023 2024 figures PDF.pdf". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 7 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
3. "Larne Town Station1". geograph. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
4. "Larne Line NIRailways / Larne Line". translink.co.uk. 13 October 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.