Five-year train signal delay means Lurgan traffic chaos won't be sorted until 2030: Hourly Belfast to Dublin Enterprise trips see motorists face half a decade of 'continuous traffic congestion' at level crossings
Traffic chaos caused by vastly increasing the number of Enterprise trains each day won’t be sorted until around 2030, a Stormont minister has said.
That’s because it’ll take Translink five years to install a promised new signal system at level crossings in the heart of Lurgan, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins states.
Belfast to Dublin trains run straight through the Co Armagh town, where railway gates delay vehicles to allow them to pass.
Since Belfast’s Grand Central Station opened last year, the cross-border service has run almost twice as often as it used to each day and Lurgan traffic is held up far more often, leaving frustrated motorists fuming as their journeys are regularly interrupted by lowering barriers while vehicles snarl up through the town.
According to Ms Kimmins, Translink are going to buy a new signal system that should ease the problem – but it’ll take five years to install it.
Said the minister in Stormont: “[The] new signal system will automate the raising and lowering of barriers. The system is anticipated to take about five years to introduce, but could significantly decrease the current barrier downtime, reduce queues and improve traffic flow at level crossings in Lurgan.”
She added that her department isn’t currently planning to directly do anything that could reduce snarl-ups from the now hourly Enterprise services that travel through the town.
Meanwhile Translink denied there is a problem, insisting to the News Letter that almost doubling the number of Belfast to Dublin trains hasn’t had any significant impact on traffic queues in Lurgan.
But the five-year delay in building new signals has outraged area MLA Diane Dodds, who says the Co Armagh town’s residents and commuters now face half a decade of “continuous traffic congestion”.
“Many constituents in Lurgan are tired of the backup of traffic caused by the hourly service,” she said, adding that she’d warned Translink that increasing the number of trains would cause trouble at town level crossings well before the new Enterprise schedule launched.
Said the DUP MLA: “It is very disappointing that the minister has indicated her department has no current plans to install mitigation measures.
“While there are promises of a new signal system, this is at least five years away and in the meantime Lurgan residents and those who use the station are left with continuous traffic congestion.
“This is simply not good enough from the minister. I will continue to monitor this issue and keep raising it until there are viable solutions.”
A Translink spokeswoman said an outline business case for building new signals in Lurgan was filed in October last year. That’s around the time Grand Central Station opened and hourly Enterprise services started.
Stated the spokeswoman: “[The new signals] will reduce the amount of time the crossing barriers remain down.
“The project is subject to approvals and funding and aims to enhance efficiency while maintaining the highest safety standards.
“A recent survey of traffic in Lurgan has shown that traffic queue lengths are not being significantly impacted by the additional trains.”
Enterprise trains now run every hour, reaching a total of 15 trips every weekday, plus another 15 on Saturdays and eight on Sundays. Before last autumn’s changes, during the week they ran eight times a day.