Botanic railway station serves the Botanic area in south Belfast, Northern Ireland and students for Queen's University Belfast; it is also near Shaftesbury Square which is along Botanic Avenue. It is named after the nearby Belfast Botanic Gardens. It is one of the four stations located in the city centre, the others being City Hospital, Lanyon Place, and the under-construction Grand Central.
Botanic  | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Translink commuter rail station | |||||||
 | |||||||
| General information | |||||||
| Location | Belfast Northern Ireland | ||||||
| Coordinates | 54°35′18″N 5°55′58″W / 54.5884°N 5.9328°W | ||||||
| Owned by | NI Railways | ||||||
| Operated by | NI Railways | ||||||
| Line(s) | Bangor Derry~Londonderry Larne | ||||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||
| Construction | |||||||
| Structure type | At-grade | ||||||
| Parking | no | ||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||
| Other information | |||||||
| Fare zone | iLink Zone 1 | ||||||
| Key dates | |||||||
| 1976 | Opened | ||||||
| 2008 | Refurbished | ||||||
| Passengers | |||||||
| 2015/16 | 986,782[1] | ||||||
| 2016/17 |  1,059,520 [1] | ||||||
| 2017/18 | 1,149,721 [1] | ||||||
| 2018/19 | 1,261,872[2] | ||||||
| 2019/20 |  1,199,695 [3] | ||||||
| 2020/21 | 178,872 [4] | ||||||
| 2021/22 | 686,153 [5] | ||||||
| 2022/23 | 904,204[6] | ||||||
| 2023/24 | 1.176 million [7] | ||||||
| |||||||
The station opened on 26 April 1976 and is very close to City Hospital Station[8]
Passengers can alight here for the Ulster Museum, which is situated on the edge of Botanic Gardens.
Services
editTrain Services
editOn weekdays, there is a half-hourly service on the Bangor Line between Grand Central and Bangor, with extra trains at peak times. The Derry~Londonderry Line operates an hourly service between Grand Central and Derry~Londonderry, with additional trains to Coleraine at peak times. The Larne Line operates a half-hourly service to Larne Harbour and Whitehead, with the terminus alternating between the two every half-hour. Extra trains operate to Carrickfergus and Larne Town at peak times.
On Saturdays, service patterns remain largely similar except without any additional peak-time trains.
On Sundays, the Bangor Line reduces to an hourly service. The Derry~Londonderry Line alternates its outbound terminus every hour between Derry~Londonderry and Portrush, resulting in a two-hourly service to stations beyond Coleraine. The Larne Line also reduces to hourly but continues alternating the terminus between Larne Harbour and Whitehead, resulting in a two-hourly service to stations beyond Whitehead.
The timetable allows 3 minutes for the trains to travel between Lanyon Place and Botanic.
At one point, the cross-border Enterprise service to Dublin Connolly served Botanic, but no longer stops at the station.[9]
Bus Services
editBelfast Metro's 7 services connect Botanic station to the City Centre, Four Winds, Laurelgrove, Braniel, and Stormont. Additionally, the 625 Ulsterbus service also stop near the station with runs from the City Centre to Ballynahinch and Carryduff. There are no ticket vending machines (TVMs) for bus tickets; passengers can either download the mLink app or pay directly on the bus.
Gallery
edit-
Exterior of the station
-
NIR Class 3000 train approaching Botanic in 2009
-
NIR 80 Class DEMU at Botanic station in 1976
References
edit- ^ a b c "NIR Footfall 1518.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "NIR Footfall 1819.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "NIR Footfall 1920.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 11 August 2020. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "FOI1317 NIR Footfall 2021.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 25 February 2021. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "FOI1317 NIR Footfall 2122.xlsx". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 26 April 2022. Archived from the original on 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "NIR Footfall 22-23". Whatdotheyknow. 17 April 2023. Archived from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "FOI Footfall 2023 2024 figures PDF.pdf". www.whatdotheyknow.com. 7 May 2024. Archived from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
- ^ Northern Ireland Railways Public Timetable effective April 26, 1976
- ^ "Timetable: Belfast, (NIR) Central Stn - Dublin, Connolly Rail Stn - Service 5". nirailways.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 October 2002. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
External links
editMedia related to Botanic railway station at Wikimedia Commons