Grand is in the name, and grand was the aim. At £340m that’s just what the public should expect.
From this Sunday the first bus passengers will be welcomed to the brand new Grand Central Station in Belfast.
It will be at the heart of what Translink describes as a new age for public transport in Northern Ireland as the 5am service to Dublin will be waved off with the first passengers to depart from the new facility.
It has, though, been a case of waiting for – rather than waiting at – the station. A summer of disruption to travel services has meant all those who rely on public transport have had to be patient.
Translink will be banking on the old adage that all good things come to those who wait. What we’ll all be waiting for now is to see if the service matches the surroundings. Waiting too to find out just when the train service will get back on track.
As yet there’s no definitive date when we can expect the first trains to be rolling out of the new Weavers Cross hub.
The new Grand Central Station in Belfast (Pacemaker)
Sunday will be a proud day for all those who have been involved in the multi-million-pound project to create a transport hub to rival any across the UK and Ireland. A proud one too for Belfast to be able to boast of one of the finest city centre stations anywhere in Europe.
But a train link direct to Belfast International Airport would be nice to go along with it.
And what of a quick journey along the tracks to Enniskillen? Try getting to Dungannon, Cookstown or Magherafelt and, well, don’t even try.
Even with the new hub, so much of Northern Ireland still remains disconnected.
A new, clean, vibrant station, complete with some major shopping retailers, will be a pleasant change for the city. But it should now be the springboard for connectivity to all parts of Ireland.
There is much to admire about the opportunities it can bring. It is, as they say, standing on a bigger footprint than King’s Cross in London. Much to admire too about the ambition of the project. In many ways, once it gets fully operational, it can be looked at as what is actually possible given the determination, commitment and all-important funding.
In several years’ time, it would be wonderful to look back on the grand opening of the project as the starting point to a new commitment to reinvigorate Belfast.
We saw, in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, how Belfast blossomed through new investment, new infrastructure and new belief as to what was possible. That has all stalled in the last decade.
This needs to be the first step of a new journey, not the journey’s end.