Translink have failed to answer questions about crammed trains from a reduced schedule, website ticket failures and possible strike action as the 153rd Open teed off.

The public transport company is running a reduced number of journeys on its lines all this week, while strike action negotiations went down to the wire and special trains laid on for the prestigious Open golf tournament are almost entirely sold out.

The News Letter has heard reports of trains being standing room only at rush hours on two major commuter lines, one between Bangor and Belfast, the other between Lisburn and the capital city – the upshot, said aggrieved passengers, of a cut-down timetable that scrapped express runs plus extra demand as people from those towns tried to get to the Open in Portrush.

In addition, there are reports of substantial demand on regular trains on the Belfast to Londonderry line, which stops in Portrush – and on Wednesday morning, what was described as “large numbers of passengers” resulted in the departure of one train between Belfast and Portrush being delayed by 12 minutes.

placeholder image — The Open's expected to bring up to 280,000 people to Portrush as huge crowds gather for the biggest sporting event in Northern Irish history. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

Meanwhile special trains laid on specifically for the Open are sold out on all but very early morning trips departing before 4.30am on Friday and Saturday.

The special trains aren’t prominent on Translink’s website; members of the public have to scroll down two full screens on the company’s homepage to reach a special sub-section in which they appear, and they don’t seem to feature in searchable journey planners, which only include standard bus and train times.

The section doesn’t reveal when the special trains leave, unless seats are still available to buy; instead referred to as trains A, B, C, D and E, travel times are largely unknown as the majority are sold out. Matters are further complicated if travellers then try to get on normal trains.

On Thursday morning, ticket sales for normal services between Belfast and Portrush appear to have failed; attempts to purchase via Translink’s journey planner, which invites the public to specify individual train departures, did not work. Trying to purchase either the regular 11.10am, 12.10pm or 1.10pm trains went nowhere, with Translink’s site instructing the News Letter to either buy on board the trains or download the public transport company’s mLink app – but a provided weblink supposedly leading to mLink also went nowhere, resulting in a “page not found” message.

Highlighting troubles with the website, former Belfast councillor John Kyle – who has been enjoying the Open – described Translink’s site as “totally unreliable” and “incomprehensible to somebody of my generation”.

“Admittedly I am not young, but in my opinion the Translink site is one of the most unhelpful and clunky travel websites I have ever used – and that is putting it politely,” he stated.

On Thursday evening, Translink was still deep in negotiation with Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland Railways workers threatening to walk out for the entirety of Friday and Saturday as part of a pay dispute. At the time indicating that it couldn’t say how talks were going, on Friday morning the public transport company announced the strike had been called off after it made new offers to unions.

The News Letter put concerns about crowding on Bangor and Lisburn lines, website design and functionality, trains to the Open, and possible industrial action to Translink. The firm issued a statement that failed to address the bulk of those topics, instead focusing on the line linking Belfast and Portrush.

Stating that it has laid on “50 additional train services” with capacity for 19,500 passengers on the Londonderry line, a spokeswoman said: “This transport plan supports a world-class visitor experience and showcases Northern Ireland as a premier destination for major events.

“In total, over 400 scheduled train services are operating to and from Portrush throughout the week, alongside special bus and regular scheduled coach services. Tickets have been available since April and are limited. Passengers are advised to book early and arrive at stations in good time, as boarding is on a first come, first served basis.

“Alongside these special services, Translink continues to operate around 13,000 daily services across Northern Ireland.”

The News Letter asked why it had not put on extra trains when the specials almost all sold out for the rest of the tournament.

The spokeswoman stated that a reduced holiday timetable was brought in this week “to reflect changes in travel patterns and make best use of our resources”.

“With the timing of the event falling during a period of typically lower demand across the network, this week’s revised schedule has allowed us to boost capacity for the Open,” she added.