Progress for Ballymena Bus and Rail station

Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay brought the issue to the Assembly for a debate in December.

He said: “When I brought this issue to the attention of the Assembly it was clearly not a priority and commuters in Ballymena were going to have to ‘make do’ with a poor and neglected station.

“I am glad that the Department and Translink has heeded my call to make this a priority. A scoping and feasibility review of the project to refurbish Ballymena Bus and Rail Integrated Station has commenced. That is excellent news.

“We also have a clear commitment that this work will be completed during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years. That is good but there should be efforts made to bring that work forward if possible.

“Demand for public transport is growing at a huge rate in Ballymena and local commuters here are entitled to the same standard of station as those that have already been put in place in Antrim and Coleraine.”