Hopes of hourly Dublin-Belfast train service as Enterprise celebrates 75 years

The first Enterprise train service left Belfast for Dublin on August 11 1947 (Charles P Friel Collection/PA)

A railway chief has said he hopes an hourly train between Belfast and Dublin can be in operation by as early as next spring, as the Enterprise service celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Some of the staff who worked on the service in its first years were among those who gathered at Lanyon Station in Belfast on Thursday to mark the date in 1947 when a seven-carriage steam train headed to Dublin, bringing about a new era in cross-border travel.