Coleraine–Portrush railway line

Portrush Line
300px Dhu Varren station.
Overview
Type	Regional rail Heavy rail
System	NI Railways
Status	Operational
Locale	Northern Ireland
Termini	Coleraine Portrush
Stations	4
Operation
Opened	1855
Operator(s)	NI Railways
Character	Branch Line
Rolling stock	Class 3000 "C3K" Class 4000 "C4K"
Technical
No. of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Irish gauge
Electrification	Un-electrified
Operating speed
Route number	NIR Service 4
Route map Coleraine-Portrush Line Legend Portrush Dhu Varren Cromore University Belfast-Derry line to Derry Coleraine Belfast-Derry line to Belfast Central

The Coleraine-Portrush line is a short branch railway line in Northern Ireland between the town of Coleraine in County Londonderry and the seaside resort of Portrush in County Antrim. The line, which is operated by Northern Ireland Railways, has two intermediate halts and connects to the main Belfast-Derry line at Coleraine.

Current services

From Monday to Saturday, an hourly service operates on the line. Trains alternate every hour between shuttle services to and from Coleraine, and through services to and from Great Victoria Street. The shuttle services connect with trains to and from Londonderry Waterside.

On Sunday, there are no through services to Belfast, and the line only operates a shuttle service to Coleraine every two hours. Passengers intending for stations elsewhere on the Belfast-Derry railway line must change trains at Coleraine.

History

The line was built as part of the Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine and Portrush Junction Railway, authorised in 1853. The engineer was Charles Lanyon and the contractor and major sponsor of the line was William Dargan. It was opened in 1855. In 1860, a junction with the Derry line was made at Coleraine, leaving the line from there to the terminus at Portrush as a branch.

Winter services were suspended from 1960, but opening of the New University of Ulster near Coleraine saw them restored, together with the addition of new halts at University (1968) and Dhu Varren (1969), to cater for student travel.

The intermediate station for Portstewart (via the Portstewart Tramway) was located at Cromore and closed in 1964. This station then reopened in 1968 but closed again in 1988.