Record-breaking Belfast gridlock must drive transport debate - The Irish News view

THE gear-grinding monotony of commuting in and out of Belfast has reached new depths. Analysis by a traffic data company has confirmed what exasperated road users, whether sat behind the wheel of their own car or on a bus, already knew; that September was a record-breaking month for gridlock.

TomTom, whose information powers many car satellite navigation systems and is used by the Department for Infrastructure, reported that last month’s congestion was significantly worse than the same period last year.

For example, at 8am on Monday September 16 there were a staggering 252 traffic jams across 121 miles of road. That intensity of congestion lasted more than an hour; by 9am, there were 247 jams across 108 miles. Nor was that a one-off.

Meanwhile, drivers on the M1 heading towards the city before 8am on most days last week encountered stop-start traffic even before passing the old Maze prison, with excruciating congestion around the Sprucefield junctions.

Brian Feeney: What is it with unionists and northern Cyprus?

Newton Emerson: We are world leaders in regulating protests – so why limit it to parades?

These heightened delays have coincided with the closure of the railway line between Lisburn and the new Grand Central Station. This has driven many habitual train passengers into their cars for the journey to and from Belfast, as evidenced by the sparse numbers of vehicles in station car parks. Translink has persisted in blaming the lag in trains being able to use its new train station on ‘safety checks’ though it has offered no detail about what these actually entailed or why it has taken so long.

Rail services are, however, due to begin next Sunday. There will be every expectation that this will signal the resumption of a normal weekday timetable. Logic suggests that with trains once more bringing passengers from Newry, Portadown, Lurgan and onwards into Belfast, road congestion should ease considerably. We will know within weeks if this is indeed the case, though work on the Sydenham Bypass and The Cutts in Dunmurry will bring their own delays.

We will know within weeks if the return of rail services from Newry, Portadown, Lurgan and onwards into Belfast will ease the current record-breaking gridlock

There will be other consequences to the return of rail services, including the enhanced hourly cross-border Enterprise which is due to begin at the end of this month. In Lurgan - where the Enterprise does not stop - this means level crossings will be closed more often, inevitably increasing the town’s congestion.

Infrastructure minister John O’Dowd, who wears his empathy lightly, told MLAs this week that “when you are sitting in traffic, you are the traffic” as he urged more of us to use public transport.

But it will take more than a shiny new station to coax drivers from their cars. If the £340 million Grand Central isn’t to be a monument to hubris, we need not only more buses and trains but also services that are reliable, affordable and properly integrated.