Great Northern Railway (Ireland)

The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway (INW), Northern Railway of Ireland, and the Ulster Railway. The governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland jointly nationalised the company in 1953, and the company was liquidated in 1958. The assets were then split on national lines between the Ulster Transport Authority and Córas Iompair Éireann.

By the 1950s the GNR(I) had ceased to be profitable and in 1953 the company was jointly nationalised by the governments of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The two governments ran the railway jointly under a Great Northern Railway Board until 1958. In May 1958, the Government of Northern Ireland's wish to close many lines led to the GNR(I) Board being dissolved and the assets divided between the two territories. Under the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1958, at midnight on 30 September 1958, all lines entirely within Northern Ireland were transferred to the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) and all lines entirely within the Republic of Ireland were transferred to Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). CIÉ had been formed as a private company in 1945 but had been nationalised in 1950. CIÉ also acquired the Hill of Howth Tramway, in the northern suburbs of Dublin, in the 1958 dissolution of the GNR(I) Board. CIÉ closed the tramway about a year later.