Heuston railway station

Heuston Station (Irish: Stáisiún Heuston; formerly Kingsbridge Station) also known as Dublin Heuston, is one of Ireland's main railway stations, linking the capital with the south, southwest and west. It is operated by Iarnród Éireann (IÉ), the national railway operator. It also houses the head office of its parent company - Córas Iompair Éireann(CIÉ).

History

The station opened on 4 August 1846 as the terminus and headquarters of the Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR). It was originally called Kingsbridge Station after the nearby Kings Bridge over the River Liffey. In 1966, on the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising it was renamed "Heuston Station", in honour of Seán Heuston, an executed leader of the Rising, who had worked in the station's offices.

Designed by Sancton Wood, the handsome original buildings remain. The five panels along the front represent, in order:

• VIII.VIC - being the Act of Parliament that incorporated the GS&WR
• Coat of Arms of Cork City
• Coat of Arms of Dublin City
• Coat of Arms of Limerick City
• AD. 1844 - being the year of incorporation of the GS&WR

Since its renewal (by Quinn Savage Smyth architects and engineers Buro Happold) it includes two branches of Eason's, a Marks and Spencers Simply Food store, as well as some dining facilities, including a Supermacs and a pub.

Operation

Rail services

InterCity

InterCity services from Heuston go to and from Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Mayo and Kerry.

Commuter

Commuter Services stop at all stations to Portlaoise Mondays to Saturdays and Sundays to Kildare

All services leave the station on a triple line as far as Inchicore, quadruple line until Hazelhatch, and thereafter only double line (one each way).

This is the main line to Cork with key service terminus and transfer points in the cork bound direction at

• Kildare for stations on the Waterford line
• Portarlington - for routes to west via Tullamore and Athlone
• Portlaoise (end of commuter services from Heuston)
• Ballybrophy (junction for stations on the Limerick-Ballybrophy railway line),
• Limerick Junction (for transfer to Limerick and Ennis services, and Waterford via Clonmel)
• Mallow (junction for Killarney & Tralee and start of Cork Commuter Services).

For a full list of stops on these routes, and route descriptions, see Rail transport in Ireland.

Links to other main railway stations

Although there is a physical rail link between Connolly Station and Heuston, via the Phoenix Park Tunnel, this was usually only used for freight and rolling stock movements. Once or twice a year special trains operated, usually from Cork to Connolly for Gaelic Athletic Association matches in Croke Park. A more regular service along this route, with four journeys an hour, began on 21 November 2016.

However the Luas light rail red line connects the two stations (apart from off peak Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, although connection to Busáras, a three-minute walk from Connolly, is possible at these times) Dublin Bus has a direct service to Connolly, but this operates as a special service for Dublin Airport so fares are not at commuter level.

Platforms

There are nine platforms - eight terminal platforms and one through platform. Platform 1 is an extension to Platform 2, and reachable only via that platform. Prior to Heuston's recent upgrade, there were five terminal platforms.

The through platform is numbered Platform 10, and is situated on the Phoenix Park Tunnel line, which connects to Connolly Station. There is no platform nine. Platform 10 is some distance from the main concourse, and is not used for any regular scheduled trains.

Future

The Iarnród Éireann initiative plans to have a DART Underground tunnel linking Heuston with Pearse Station and onwards to a new Spencer Dock Docklands railway station. An underground station would be constructed at Heuston.

Construction has been indefinitely delayed due to lack of funding, however planning and design is still ongoing under the heading of the DART underground project.

Inchicore Works

The main IÉ maintenance depot, at Inchicore, is approximately three kilometres (two miles) away.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuston_railway_station