Derry public urged to support late night Christmas trains

Rail campaigners Into The West have welcomed the introduction of special late night weekend trains to and from Derry in the run up to Christmas - and are calling on people in Derry, Castlerock and Bellarena to take full advantage of them.

Translink recently announced that they are running extended evening rail services West of the Bann over the next two weekends before Christmas.

This means that on Friday and Saturday nights up to and including Saturday, December 20, the last train from Belfast to Derry will leave Grand Central at 11:10pm - instead of the usual time of 9:10pm. That will give Christmas shoppers and festive revellers plenty of time to visit Belfast for the evening, and still be able to get back to the North-West in comfort by train.

And for those based on Bannside looking to make the most of the nightlife and shopping that’s on offer in Derry, an extra late night train will now leave the city’s Waterside station at 11:30pm on Friday and Saturday nights up to Christmas, calling at all stops as far as Coleraine.

Chair of Into The West, Steve Bradley, commented: “The festive season sees lots of people enjoying nights out and late-night shopping for presents. Translink’s regular timetable means that the last trains to and from the West of the Bann usually depart no later than 9:30pm – which usually prevents rail from meeting people’s night-time travel needs here. That’s why it’s great to see these extra late-night services introduced for Christmas – giving people an extra 2 hours to spend in the evenings in Belfast or Derry, before taking advantage of the train as a low-cost, convenient and safe way to get home again afterwards.”

Mr Bradley is urging people in the north-west to take advantage of these special late night services as it will strengthen the case for them to continue on an ongoing basis.

He explained: “Every station East of the Bann on the Derry-Belfast line usually has much later rail services than the three stations West of the Bann do. So these Christmas specials are the one time that every station gets treated equally. Into The West have been pushing Translink and the Department for Infrastructure to address this East-West timetable discrimination – and it will really help our cause in that if people here take full advantage of these special Christmas trains in the lead up to Christmas.

"So if you want to see later trains to and from Derry all year round, then please do take advantage of these special festive trains whilst we have them. Because the numbers using them will be closely monitored, and that will influence future decisions on whether Derry should get the kind of later rail services that stations East of the Bann enjoy all year round.”