The station and adjacent works were very badly damaged in an air raid, in April 1941.
The Midland Hotel, on the Whitla Street side of the complex, was destroyed, along with the covered tram terminus next door.
The two large over-all semi-circular glass roofs which covered the platforms of York Road station at the concourse end were also destroyed.
The damage was so severe that, in 1944, town planners proposed, in the first area plan for Belfast, that the entire station should be moved several blocks to the south, but this proposal was never implemented.

Although the hotel was re-built (in much simplified form) and the station was revamped on two occasions (notably in 1966), it never regained its pre-war grandeur.
A terrorist attack, in the early days of the Troubles, damaged it further.
In 1968, the successor of the Ulster Transport Authority, Northern Ireland Railways drew up ambitious plans for a brand new station and office block at York Road, in a style similar to that employed for London's Euston station, which was remodelled between 1963 and 1968.
These plans, copies of which were uncovered in 1999 by the Irish Railway Record Society, were soon shelved.
Instead, what remained of the old station was demolished and a small, brown-brick structure built.
This was opened in 1975, with the main entrance in York Road itself, at what had been the side of the old station.
Parts of the site were sold at that time, and commercial premises constructed.
The station and adjacent works were very badly damaged in an air raid, in April 1941. The Midland Hotel, on the Whitla Street side of the complex, was destroyed, along with the covered tram terminus next door. The two large over-all semi-circular glass roofs which covered the platforms of York Road station at the concourse end were also destroyed. The damage was so severe that, in 1944, town planners proposed, in the first area plan for Belfast, that the entire station should be moved several blocks to the south, but this proposal was never implemented.
Although the hotel was re-built (in much simplified form) and the station was revamped on two occasions (notably in 1966), it never regained its pre-war grandeur. A terrorist attack, in the early days of the Troubles, damaged it further. In 1968, the successor of the Ulster Transport Authority, Northern Ireland Railways drew up ambitious plans for a brand new station and office block at York Road, in a style similar to that employed for London's Euston station, which was remodelled between 1963 and 1968. These plans, copies of which were uncovered in 1999 by the Irish Railway Record Society, were soon shelved. Instead, what remained of the old station was demolished and a small, brown-brick structure built. This was opened in 1975, with the main entrance in York Road itself, at what had been the side of the old station. Parts of the site were sold at that time, and commercial premises constructed.
York Road railway station