Railway transport funding
The Department provides capital grant to Translink for Northern Ireland Railways to operate rail services. The funding helps maintain and develop the rail infrastructure (which includes track, stations, bridges, level crossings etc) and rolling stock (which includes trains, equipment and associated plant machinery).
This investment allows rail services to operate safely and efficiently and helps make public transport an attractive alternative to private transport.
Public Transport Services Division approves and monitors the Capital Grant allocated to Translink ensuring that projects demonstrate value for taxpayers' money and expenditure falls within budgetary limits.
The past few years have seen significant investment in the railways. From the year 2004/05 to 2014/15, the Department has funded over £400m of capital works on the railways here. The major projects currently completed include:
- the acquisition of 20 new trains, the last of which entered passenger service at the end of August 2012. As well as associated projects such as a Train Care Maintenance Facility at Adelaide and platform extensions to accommodate these new trains.
- track safety improvements work on the Coleraine to Londonderry Line along with Phase One of the track renewal project.
- upgrade of stations at Portadown and Antrim.