Grand Central Station opened to Bus Services on the 8th of September, 2024. With this came with the shock of the locals when they saw the inside. The original Great Victoria Street Rail Station/Europa Bus Centre was very cramped and small compared to the massive, open space in the new station. In Grand Central’, there are a total of 27 bus stands and 8 rail platforms, and compared to the 15 bus stands and 4 platforms in the original building, this is an incredible upgrade. However, some locals in the area are concerned regarding the knocking down of the Boyne Bridge, in which the original station went underneath. This may cut off another way of getting into the Sandy Row area, and may cause more traffic jams on other routes.

Myself and my good friend Owen headed down to the station on Saturday the 14th to take a look at the new station, and from a personal view, it is amazing! Compared to the older building it is probably one of the biggest and most impressive projects Translink has taken on. We are, however, confused on how Train/Bus spotting will work at the station. In Great Victoria Street, to train spot, you either told the gate operator that you were train spotting or you just went to a different station and rode into the platform. In the new station, they have installed ticket barriers to replace the older system of staff letting people in if they have a ticket, which means that either Translink will need to add a platform ticket feature, or the train spotting community will just have to ride in and spend money. The buses have been blocked off for heath and safety which means that to bus spot you will just have to do it through a glass window. With train spotting, we will just have to find out closer to the time and hope for the best. The original staff were very accepting of the spotting community, so we will just have to wait and see.