York St. Station – the Appendix of North Belfast

This article first appeared on Slugger O’Toole in July 2024

Image credit: ©TranslinkNI/Department for infrastructure

John O’Dowd stepped off the train and onto the new York Street Station like a heavyweight boxer striding towards the ring. An entourage of personal assistants, journalists and photographers trailed in his wake as he made his way to the foyer to cut the ribbon on the new £17M station

Train stations in Northern Ireland are as rare as… well… train stations. Few ministers have opened one in the last 60 years. If all goes to plan O’Dowd will open 2 within 6 months. York St. was a light sparring session – there was no opposition whatsoever. Opening Grand Central Station (GCS) will be a bigger draw – and O’Dowd might have a tougher fight on his hands justifying the colossal £340 million budget (read Steve Bradley’s assessment). York St. Station passed without any scrutiny. So what’s beyond the red ribbon? Who does it serve? Was it worth £17M?

THE HEART OF NORTH BELFAST

The Department for Infrastructure claim that the new York St. Station “represents a major capital investment at the heart of North Belfast.” If you know the anatomy of North Belfast – you’ll know something’s not quite right here.

North Belfast tumbles down from Cave Hill and Wolf Hill into Belfast docks. A patchwork of communities from Ligoneil and the Ardoyne down to the Shore Rd and York Rd sliced through by the Antrim Rd. If you had pin-point the heart of North Belfast – it wouldn’t be York St station. The Waterworks halfway up the Antrim Road would be the most likely candidate. A blue oasis of pram pushers, pensioners and park runners has a constant beat of activity.

Of the thousands of people using the Waterworks daily – nobody arrives by train. York St. Station is as disconnected from North Belfast as the new Grand Central Station will be.

Anatomically, York St. Station might be better described as the appendix of Northern Belfast. A mysterious appendage few understand. If surgically removed most people wouldn’t notice. A leftover from the days when North Belfast was an industrial hub. Where rails met sails and 1000s left looking for a better life across the water.

As a former North Belfast resident for over 10 years – I never set foot on its platforms – failing to understand what function it served as it didn’t serve any part of Belfast I couldn’t reach quicker on foot, bike or by bus.

THE CREATOR HAS A MASTERPLAN

Recent studies have found that the appendix has incredible regenerative properties. When the good gut bacteria gets killed by an infection or prolonged use of antibiotics – the appendix pumps good bacteria back into the digestive system to reinvigorate it.

Like the appendix – the mystery of York St. Station might be explained by its regenerative functions?

O’Dowd said “…York Street station provides access to Ulster University, City Quays, Sailortown …North Belfast”. Perhaps the station can act as a regenerative catalyst in the bigger masterplan for North Belfast? I spent an afternoon finding out.

INTEGRATING TRANSPORT IN NORTH BELFAST

By the entrance to the new station sits a huge multi-storey bike parking facility. Room for up to 100 bikes (see video).

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York St. Station was designed to integrate with the Belfast Bicycle Network – allowing residents in North Belfast to cycle from the Waterworks down to the station. While DFI still retain some muscle memory of building rail infrastructure, they have yet to develop any ability to build for bicycles. The planned cycle route linking the Waterworks to York Street Station was scrapped after a botched consultation process and a small residents’ campaign. On the day I visited 1 bike was locked up. There are still no cycle lanes in the whole of North Belfast. This optimistic facility will remain empty for some time.

ULSTER UNIVERSITY

How would a young fresher feel – arriving at the station for their first day at Ulster University? A sign outside the station points to the University, about 750m away. The first 25 metres of this short journey indicates the wider issues facing pedestrians. To get from the blue sign pointing to the University (see image below) to the footpath on the other side – leading to the University – involves 6 separate pedestrian crossings.

The walk to the door of the university involves crossing 28 lanes of traffic. From train station to the University door takes around 15 minutes – with favourable traffic light sequences.

Finally arriving at the door – how would a young fresher feel? Inspired?

WESTLINK

The biggest challenge to the area remains the Westlink – a deep, wide trench dug across the city with only a handful of crossing points. The only surface level crossing is where it meets York St. just before the new Ulster University campus. Another 5 pedestrian crossings help you navigate 9 lanes of traffic.

Tim Cunningham (visiting assistant professor at the Pratt Institute, New York City) recently discovered the initial designs for the Westlink were rejected in the ‘70s by the Joint Working Party – a group of senior figures with responsibility for security.

They favoured a “physical cordon sanitaire…” where “opportunities to create natural divisions between difficult areas by means of road re- alignment’’ would help restrict circulation. The Westlink was more about segregation and surveillance than traffic flow.

It still serves its purpose well – cutting off York St and North Belfast from the rest of the city.

SAILORTOWN & CITY QUAYS

A short walk of 50 metres from the new station takes you into Sailortown – an equally bleak, dangerous, disconnected journey. Sailortown feels like ground zero. A prototype Tribeca. The M2, City Quays and surface carparks have displaced almost the entire community.

Welcome to Sailortown.

A video by St Joe’s, Sailortown shows what awaits.

Creating safe cycle and pedestrian links from the station into Sailortown and City Quays should have the first priority and would have given residents, business owners and office workers some dignity after decades of neglect.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

The station itself is great. Any investment in rail should be applauded. The £17M budget will attract further investment – eventually. However, spending an afternoon in the surrounding area pushing pedestrian crossing buttons and dodging cars – the overriding feeling is fight or flight. People have been completely designed out of the area. The public realm simply doesn’t exist beyond the foyer. That’s its failing.

Can York St. Station perform the same regenerative job as an appendix – pumping people, pedestrians, cyclists, energy and investment – back into the area after years of a toxic road diet? I believe it can – but only when the Department for Infrastructure address and remove the enormous blockages they have created in the area. Only when they begin to prioritise people – before traffic flow.

© CYCUL 19.7.24