Mr Conway said the opening of Grand Central was “complex” and “a lot of training was needed” to ensure staff could ensure public safety from the start.

Since the nearby Great Victoria Street station was permanently closed in May, rail passengers have experienced disruption.

This site served Belfast for nearly 200 years, but is being replaced by a much larger integrated bus and rail hub not far from the Grand Central site.

To facilitate the changes, The railway line between Belfast and Lisburn is closed for the summer.

This closure also affected the cross-border Enterprise service, which provides a replacement bus service between Belfast and Newry.

Mr Conway was asked about the disruptions, which will continue into the new school year in September.

“It is the largest infrastructure project on the island of Ireland and therefore requires careful management as we move into the opening phase,” he said.

“We have laid over 6 kilometers of new tracks. We have implemented a brand new digital signaling system and a new contactless system with automatic gates and barriers.”

Mr Conway explained that all new equipment would require testing and training for railway staff.

“But most importantly, we have to go through a safety approval process and the safety authority has to give its opinion on it,” he added.

“We are therefore carrying out a gradual opening to ensure safety for everyone and to ensure that everyone gets used to the new facilities.”

The Translink boss was also asked about the costs of the project, which have risen rapidly in recent years.

Early forecasts had estimated the cost of implementing the project at £200 million.

But in April this year, Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd told Stormont: The latest cost estimate was £340 million.

Mr Conway told the show: “The full business case has been signed in 2022 for £300 million.”

“Since then, we have had extraordinary inflation and we intend to increase inflation by about 10 to 15 percent on that basis.”

“This is an extraordinary achievement by the teams, given the extraordinary inflation we have seen since then.”

“But in terms of value for money, this will fundamentally modernise our entire public transport network,” he added.

Last month, the final report of the The All-Island Strategic Rail Review made 32 recommendations to improve rail services across the entire island of Ireland.

These included connecting the international airports of Dublin, Shannon and Belfast to the rail network and the planned construction of a new railway station in Craigavon.

Mr Conway said the new transport hub at Grand Central was “necessary to enable many of the features proposed in the review”.

The CEO added that the public will be “excited by what they see” when Grand Central opens next month.

He said it will have “very modern, advanced features” including contactless ticketing and improved accessibility for passengers.

Mr Conway added that new business opportunities would contribute to the regeneration of the city.