The Proposed Belfast Central Station and Railwavs. 45 



will be approached from Castle Street, which street will be made 

 60 feet wide, and all the other streets round the station buildings 

 about 50 feet wide. The station buildings will be set back 

 about 30 feet from the line of Castle Street, and will have a 

 frontage to that street of about 530 feet, and a width of about 

 60 feet. There will be three approaches from the street level to 

 the new station, one from a new street running from Castle 

 Street to Berry Street, one in the centre of the station in Castle 

 Street, and a third in King Street. From the station corridors, 

 which are to be very wide, there will be staircases and lifts to 

 each platform. There will be an auxilliary booking-office in 

 Berry Street, quite close to Royal Avenue ; this will be mainly 

 used in connection with County Down excursions and other 

 traffic. At either end of the station their will be footbridges 

 connecting all the platforms, and there will be exits from the 

 station in Smithfield North, College Square East, and Queen 

 Street. The site for the hotel has not yet been definitely fixed. 

 It may be either Castle Street, over the station buildings, or at 

 the corner of Royal Avenue and Berry Street. The accommo- 

 dation in it will be from 1 50 to 200 bedrooms, and in addition 

 to the usual hotel requirements there will be provision made 

 for ample stockrooms and a hall tor public and private meetings 

 and entertainments. The hotel will also be fitted with passen- 

 ger and luggage lifts and all modern conveniences. The station, 

 the subways, the tunnel, and the hotel will be lighted through- 

 out by electricity. 



In conclusion, the lecturer said : — Assuming that the carrying 

 out of the Central Station and railways scheme will be a great 

 advantage to the city, and I believe it is almost a necessity, it 

 deserves the cordial support of the citizens of Belfast; for, if the 

 proposed junction of the three lines of railway is not effected 

 now it will probably never be effected, because in the course of 

 a few years, at the present rate of progress in Belfast, the site 

 of the proposed station would be practically unpurchasable ; 

 while if the matter is heartily taken up now there will be 

 rf^lly no obstacle of any considerable dimensions in the way, 



