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===Railways=== [[File:Bridge across the River Foyle at Lifford - geograph.org.uk - 1320289.jpg|thumb|[[Lifford Bridge|The Lifford Bridge]], linking [[Lifford]] in the [[Republic of Ireland|Republic]] and Strabane in the [[Northern Ireland|North]]]] [[File:Abercorn Square, Strabane (01), January 2010.JPG|thumb|Abercorn Square, Strabane]] The [[Irish gauge]] {{RailGauge|5ft3in}} [[Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway]] (L&ER) reached Strabane in 1847,<ref name=Hajducki3>{{cite book|last=Hajducki|first=S. Maxwell|year=1974|title=A Railway Atlas of Ireland|location=Newton Abbott|publisher=[[David & Charles]]|isbn=0-7153-5167-2|at=map 3}}</ref> [[Omagh]] in 1852<ref name=Hajducki7>Hajducki, 1974, map 7</ref> and [[Enniskillen]] in 1854.<ref name=Hajducki7/> The [[Great Northern Railway (Ireland)]] took over the L&ER in 1883.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Edward M.|year=1962|title=The County Donegal Railways|publisher=[[David & Charles]]|location=Dawlish|pages=10β11}}</ref> The [[Finn Valley Railway]] (FV) opened from Strabane to [[Stranorlar]] in 1863.<ref name=Hajducki7/><ref name=Hajducki6>Hajducki, 1974, map 6</ref> The FV was originally Irish gauge but in 1892 it merged with the {{RailGauge|3ft}} [[narrow gauge]] [[West Donegal Railway]] (WD) to form the Donegal Railway<ref name=HajduckiXI>Hajducki, 1974, page xi</ref> and was reduced to the same narrow gauge for through running. The Donegal Railway opened its own line to Derry in 1900.<ref name=Hajducki3/> In 1906 the GNR and [[Northern Counties Committee]] jointly took over the Donegal Railway, making it the [[County Donegal Railways Joint Committee]].<ref name=HajduckiXI/> The {{RailGauge|3ft}} gauge [[Strabane and Letterkenny Railway]] opened in 1909<ref name=Hajducki3/> and was worked by the Joint Committee.<ref name=HajduckiXI/> The [[partition of Ireland]] in 1922 turned the boundary with County Donegal into an international frontier. This changed trade patterns to the railways' detriment and placed border posts on the Joint Committee's FV and S&L lines and on the GNR line to Derry.<ref name=Hajducki3/> Stops for [[customs]] inspections greatly delayed trains and disrupted timekeeping. Over the next few years customs agreements between the two states enabled GNR trains between Strabane and Derry to pass through the Free State without inspection unless they were scheduled to serve local stations on the west bank of the Foyle, and for goods on all railways to be carried between different parts of the Free State to pass through Northern Ireland under [[Bonded warehouse|customs bond]]. The Joint Committee's Strabane-Derry line was closed in 1954, followed by the remainder of the narrow gauge system in 1960.<ref name=Hajducki39>Hajducki, 1974, map 39</ref> In 1958 the [[Ulster Transport Authority]] took over the remaining GNR lines on the Northern Ireland side of the border. In accordance with [[Ulster Transport Authority#The Benson Report|The Benson Report]] submitted to the Northern Ireland Government in 1963, the UTA closed the former GNR line through Strabane to Derry in 1965.<ref name=Hajducki39/><ref>{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Michael H.C.|year=1972|title=Irish Railways since 1916|location=London, UK|publisher=[[Ian Allan Publishing|Ian Allan]]|isbn=0-7110-0282-7 |pages=153, 207}}</ref> Little trace remains of Strabane's railways except for one old railway building that survives in the town. The nearest railway is operated by [[Northern Ireland Railways]] and runs from [[Derry ~ Londonderry railway station|Derry~Londonderry railway station]] via [[Coleraine]] to [[Lanyon Place railway station|Belfast Lanyon Place railway station]] and [[Belfast Grand Central station]]. The [[Belfast-Derry railway line]] has been upgraded to facilitate more frequent trains.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-40478392| title=Translink start new hourly train service to Londonderry| website=BBC News| date=3 July 2017}}</ref>
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