Translink (Northern Ireland)
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Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a public corporation of Northern Ireland charged to oversee the provision of public transport in the country.
NITHCo was established in 1967 to take over the railway and bus services of the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA), namely Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) and Ulsterbus. In 1996 the Translink organization was created to integrate the services of the Ulster Transport Authority as well as Citybus Limited (Belfast only - successor to the Belfast Corporation Transport Department). Citybus is now known as Metro.
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[edit] Northern Ireland Railways
Northern Ireland Railways (NIR), formerly and briefly called Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is responsible for running the railway network in Northern Ireland. The Northern Irish railway network is currently 330.58 km (206.61 miles).
The two main passenger lines operate from Belfast to Derry to the north and Newry to the south, continuing across the border, which is part of the fast Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin. Also operated is the Belfast suburban service to Bangor, Larne, Coleraine, Portrush and Portadown.
[edit] Ulsterbus
Ulsterbus is responsible for most of the Province-wide bus services in Northern Ireland. They operate around 20 bus stations and 1,100 Buses. Ulsterbus is charged with transporting over 65,000 children per day to school.
[edit] Goldline
Goldline is the name given to the Inter-urban bus services operated by Ulsterbus. There are also a number of cross border and cross channel (North Channel) services to Great Britain.
[edit] Private/Contract Hire
A number of hire services are provided.
[edit] Day Tours
Ulsterbus operate "Day Tours" to other parts of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland mainly shopping and to some tourist attractions.
[edit] Metro
The Translink Metro service (previously Citybus) operates bus services within the Greater Belfast Area. Metro operates 12 bus corridors (QBCs) in Belfast, a number of additional routes, as well as a Nightlink service.
The service began as the Belfast Corporation Transport Department. In 1973, these services were transferred to the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company as Citybus Limited, becoming part of the "Translink" integrated network in 1995. In 2004, Translink/NITHC announced that Citybus would be completely reorganised into 12 QBCs and integrated with Ulsterbus services in the Greater Belfast area. Citybus was re-branded as Metro on 7 February 2005.
[edit] Ulsterbus Foyle
Ulsterbus Foyle is a division of Translink that operates bus services in Northern Ireland's second city. The new service was opened in the September of 2006 following a update of the city's bus routes and replacing some of the city's older buses. Ulsterbus Foyle is similar to Metro that operates buses in Belfast.
[edit] See also
- Enterprise Train; Cross border Irish rail service.
- Ulster Transport Authority; Ran rail and bus transport in Northern Ireland from 1948 until 1966.
- Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company; Government owned body which set up to take over the railway and bus services of the UTA.
[edit] External links
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