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Northern Ireland Railways (NIR or NI Railways) – formerly, and very briefly, known as Ulster Transport Railways (UTR) – is the railway operator responsible for running the railway network in Northern Ireland. Currently the sole-surviving state-owned inter-urban train operator in the UK, it is a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, and has a common Board of Management with the other two transport Companies, Ulsterbus and Citybus, trading under the brand name Translink. The rail network in Northern Ireland is not part of the National Rail network that operates on the island of Great Britain. As a consequence of this, and its status as a state owned operator, Northern Ireland Railways is not considered to be one of the Train Operating Companies.

Routes

NIR currently operates two important lines between Belfast and Derry and between Belfast and the border with the Republic of Ireland then to Dundalk. On the latter route NIR operates a joint service of fast trains (the Enterprise) between Belfast and Dublin in conjunction with the national railway company of the Republic of Ireland, Iarnród Éireann. NIR also operates a branch line between Coleraine and Portrush, and suburban services from Belfast to Bangor, Larne, and Portadown. For more details visit:

• Dublin-Belfast railway line
• Belfast-Bangor railway line
• Belfast-Larne railway line
• Belfast-Londonderry railway line
• Coleraine-Portrush railway line
• Belfast-Newry railway line
• Lisburn-Antrim railway line

History

NIR was formed in 1968 when it took over from the Ulster Transport Authority, which had operated since 1948. Much of Northern Ireland's railway network was closed during the 1950s and 1960s, declining from 1500 km (900 miles) in the 1950s to 342 km (210 miles) at present.

From the 1960s the NIR network became increasingly run down, with old rolling stock and worn out track. In 2004/2005, NI Railways began to receive delivery of 23 new Class 3000 DMUs from CAF of Spain, in an order which totalled £80m. The final train, 3023, arrived in Belfast Harbour on 18 July 2005. All the units had entered service by 24 September 2005, each one having had to complete 2000 miles of fault-free running before doing so.

CAF trains

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Since the arrival of the new CAF trains things have not been so smooth for the technicians based at York road in Belfast. The availability has been maintained to an exceptional standard by the employees who work tirelessly, the reason for this being that since the arrival 60 turbochargers have been replaced due to vibrations caused by the diesel engines provided by MAN engines. Although there is somewhat of a dispute between CAF and MAN. Man claim that the underbody mounting pod bushes are to blame and not the diesel engines for the vibrations. Enivitably this has led to a high number of damaged pistons, cylinder heads, cylinders and bearings and not to mention 60 turbos.

External links

• Official site
• Collection of Google Earth locations of NI Railways stations (Requires Google Earth software) from the Google Earth Community forum.

Sources

• BBC News: New trains make first journey
• Translink Press Release: Last New Train lands at Belfast Harbour

• Rail transport in Northern Ireland
• Railway companies of the United Kingdom