Templepatrick railway station

54.701753°N 6.091848°W / 54.701753; -6.091848

Templepatrick
CIE weed spraying train passing the remains of Templepatrick station in 1985
General information
Location	Templepatrick, County Antrim Northern Ireland
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Belfast and Ballymena Railway
Pre-grouping	Belfast and Northern Counties Railway
Post-grouping	Northern Ireland Railways
Key dates
11 April 1848	Station opens as flag halt
9 September 1961	Station closes
17 June 1980	Station reopens
21 February 1981	Station closes
Location Templepatrick Location within Northern Ireland

Templepatrick railway station served the village of Templepatrick in County Antrim on the Belfast-Derry railway line.

History

The station was opened in 1848 as part of the Belfast & Ballymena Railway, which would ultimately become part of the Northern Counties Committee group of lines owned by the LMS. Following the nationalisation of the railways, traffic on the line was reduced until eventually the route between Belfast and Derry~Londonderry was diverted via the Lisburn-Antrim railway line, with the stations on the old route, including Templepatrick, closed. Templepatrick was closed in 1981.^[1]

Preceding station		Northern Ireland Railways		Following station
Mossley		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry (until 1978)		Antrim
		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Antrim (1980)
	Proposed
Mossley West		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Derry		Antrim
	Historical railways
Doagh		Belfast and Ballymena Railway Belfast York Road-Ballymena		Dunadry

Proposals

In 1994, Northern Ireland Railways gained funding approval for the restoration of the Bleach Green section of the Derry line, which would allow more direct services into the centre of Belfast. As part of this project, NIR planned to recommission two new stations, Mossley West and Templepatrick.^[2] Mossley West opened in 2001, but there was no movement for a station at Templepatrick. However, Translink, the public company responsible for public transport in Northern Ireland, proposed to build a major transport interchange, featuring both a bus and railway station beside the M2 at Templepatrick.^{[citation needed]} As of 2006 it was reported that this could potentially serve as a park and ride for towns and villages in the area of South Antrim.^{[3][needs update]}

References

1. Templepatrick station - railbrit.co.uk
2. Antrim - Bleach Green: Rebirth of a Railway Line; Engineering Archived 28 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine - Translink
3. "Ford welcomes rail progress at Templepatrick". Alliance Party. 14 April 2006. Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Translink expects to submit a planning application for the proposed Templepatrick park and ride scheme before the end of this year [2006]