Train services started running from the largest transport hub on the island of Ireland in Belfast this morning.
The first train to depart from Belfast Grand Central Station was the 8.05am Enterprise to Dublin Connolly with just over 100 passengers on board.
The £340m station opened for bus services five weeks ago but a range of safety checks had to be conducted and new signalling installed before train services could get under way.
Larger than two football pitches, the station has eight railway platforms and 26 bus stands.
Translink, the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company which owns the station, has described it as a “game changer” with the capacity to cater for 20 million passenger journeys a year.
The transport hub is located on the Grosvenor Road behind the previous bus and rail stations serving central Belfast, the Europa bus centre and Great Victoria Street train station, which have now closed.
Stormont’s Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd was on board the first train to arrive at the station, the service from Portadown which arrived at 9.15am.
“This is a hugely significant day for public transport,” he said.
“It’s about the future. It’s about saying to everyone out there we have a modern public transport system, and we encourage you to use it when you can.”
All Enterprise Services to Dublin will now depart from Grand Central Station. A new hourly train service between Belfast and Dublin is due to start later this month and is being supported by €25m from the Irish Government.
While 70% of the companies that worked on the project were from Northern Ireland, a Dublin-based firm did the glazing and the glass was manufactured by a company from Co Tipperary.