Newry railway station
Newry railway station serves the city of Newry and the village of Bessbrook in Northern Ireland. The station is located in the northwest of Newry, County Armagh on the Dublin-Belfast line close to the Craigmore Viaduct. It is the most southerly railway station in Northern Ireland.
The current station building features 2 platforms that are accessible by a footbridge with lifts and inside the station concourse there is a ticket office and ticket machines, as well as toilets, vending machines and seats. The entrance to the platforms from the station concourse is closed off by a gate which is only opened by staff members around 10 minutes before scheduled departures.
Translink Ulsterbus operates a free of charge bus service from outside the station to Newry city centre for rail ticket holders.
History
The port of Newry was already a transport hub by 1742 with the opening of the Newry Canal to Lough Neagh. By the start of the twentieth century Newry had become a railway hub, with the Belfast to Dublin line passing to the west of the town, while lines from the ports of Warrenpoint and Greenore either side of Carlingford Lough converged closer to the centre of town where stations were more conveniently situated. All converged at to the north of Newry where a line also diverged off to the north-west towards Armagh.The current Newry station originally opened in 1855 as Newry Main Line, renamed Bessbrook & Newry Main Line in 1866, renamed again as Bessbrook in 1880 before closing in 1942.
With this closure Newry was served by the Edward Street station, however this was to close with the Warrenpoint branch in 1965, leaving Newry with no railway station.
The station re-opened in 1984 as an NIR Intercity station, with basic facilities such as a temporary booking office. These facilities remained in place for over 20 years from the station's opening by which time their condition was deteriorating. In order to improve facilities for passengers a modern new station building was constructed and officially opened on 26 November 2009.
Other stations in Newry
- Albert Basin, on the canal branch.
- Armagh Road, temporary station at Mullaghlass on main line.
- Bridge Street, Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway station.
- Dublin Bridge, Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway.
- Edward Street, Opened by the Newry and Armagh Railway in 1854.
- Kilmorey Street, Original terminus of NW&RR.
Service
The station is a calling point on the Enterprise express service, which operates between and. These trains call at Newry for both destinations at hourly intervals throughout the day. The station experiences favourable passenger numbers from this service. There are also four trains to and from Belfast Grand Central, operated by NI Railways.On Sundays, there are multiple enterprise services, and a local NIR service late at night.
Additionally, until September 2024, two peak-time services were operated each day to and from Newry by Iarnród Éireann. The first was the 06:30 service to Dublin Connolly, stopping at Commuter stations between Newry and Dublin Connolly, except,,, and. The first peak service to Newry began in January 2018, when the 17:13 service from was extended to Newry from. These services were discontinued following the timetable change in September 2024.