Cultra railway station

Cultra
File:Cultra railway station 1.jpg Cultra railway station
Location	Cultra (Holywood) Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Coordinates
Owned by	NI Railways
Operated by	NI Railways
Platforms	2
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Key dates
May 1865	Opened
11 November 1957	Closed
1978	Re-opened
2008	Refurbished
NI Railways Translink NI railway stations
UK Railways portal

Cultra railway station is a railway station in the townland of Ballycultra in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. It serves the Cultra residential area and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

Service

Mondays to Saturdays there is a half hourly service westbound to Belfast Central, Belfast Great Victoria Street, Lisburn, Portadown or Newry in one direction, and eastbound to Bangor in the other. More frequent trains run at peak times, and the service reduces to hourly in the evenings.

Some peak-hour trains pass through Cultra station without stopping.

On Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction.

Preceding station	Northern Ireland Railways			Following station
Marino		Northern Ireland Railways Belfast-Bangor		Seahill

History

The Belfast, Hollywood and Bangor Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 12 June 1861 and opened in May 1865. The BH&BR crossed the land of some wealthy landowners, whose terms included that Cultra station must be "of an ornamental character" and that "at least One Half of the Trains" must call there, or else the company would be penalised £10 per day.

The BH&BR was originally single track and the only passing loop was at Craigavad, so Cultra station would have had only one platform. However, the Belfast and County Down Railway took over the BH&BR in 1884 and doubled the track between 1897 and 1902, from which time Cultra has had two platforms. In deference to Cultra's wealthy residents the footbridge between the platforms had a roof — the only bridge so equipped on the B&CDR network.

Due to low passenger numbers, the Ulster Transport Authority closed the station on 11 November 1957. However, subsequently the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum was established at Cultra. Northern Ireland Railways reopened the station in 1978, primarily to serve the museum.

Translink had the station refurbished in 2008.