Enterprise: Belfast-Dublin rail to receive multi-million investment

Journey times for some trains between Belfast and Dublin could be cut to under two hours as a result of a new £548m investment. Eight new inter-city trains are due to become available in late 2028 and the aim is to try to speed up the service. Translink, Northern Ireland's public transport provider, outlined its plans for improvements on Thursday. A spokesperson said: "With improved acceleration and performance of the fleet and associated infrastructure development, this project will support a target express journey time of under two hours." The £548m (€698m) cross‑border investment is jointly funded by the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department for Infrastructure and the Irish government's Department of Transport, and supported with €165m (£143m) through a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. A contract has been signed with Swiss manufacturer Stadler for the new fleet of eight trains, to operate what is known as the Enterprise service. The current travel time between Belfast's Grand Central Station and Dublin's Connolly Station is more than two hours. The new trains have been purpose-designed for the cross-border route and have around 400 seats. Jointly operate