Dublin Pearse railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A commuter train is seen in Pearse Street station.

Dublin Pearse, commonly called Pearse station, is located on Westland Row in the Southside in Dublin is a DART and Intercity railway station owned by Córas Iompair Éireann. The station is the terminus of the Northern Commuter (to Balbriggan/Dundalk) and Western Commuter (to Maynooth/Longford) services. DART and South Eastern Commuter (Dublin Connolly to Arklow) services also serve the station, as do Intercity services from Dublin Connolly to Rosslare Europort.

The station was opened in 1834 as the city terminus of the Dublin & Kingstown Railway which was the first 'commuter' line in the world. The station was extended and rebuilt in the latter part of the 19th century when the present overall roof was installed. A feature of this rebuild allowed for the conversion of the terminus into a through station which eventually happened when the City of Dublin Junction Railway completed the final link up of all the city railways.

The station has two through platforms (Platforms 1 & 2). There is also one terminal platform (Platform 3) which is occasionally used for special services. A fourth platform exists, but is unsuitable for modern passenger services and is used as a siding. This platform [and the now covered in adjacent 5th platform] has been used as a set for several movies, 'Michael Collins', 'Limerick' in Angela's Ashes, 'Galway', in Norah Barnacle and the 2005 remake, Lassie, starring Peter O'Toole.

The station also includes a Spar convenience store, and formerly had a café on the southbound platform, but this is now closed.

It is the headquarters of Iarnród Éireann's DART sector. It is the only one of Dublin's three terminal stations which has not or is not the subject of a recent major upgrade project, the others being Connolly and Heuston on the west of the city.

The station was previously called Westland Row Station, but was renamed in 1966 (after the Pearse Family, notably brothers Patrick and Willie) as part of the Easter Rising celebrations that saw many of the Republic of Ireland railway stations renamed. Because of its proximity to Pearse St, many Dubliners refer to the station as "Pearse Street Station" though that is not its official name. (In fact, the most recent - December 2004 - Iarnród Éireann list of departures from the station is headed with that name). Although a number of Intercity lines operated out of the station in the past, nowadays no Intercity services regularly terminate at the station.

A tunnel under the city centre connecting Heuston Station to the Northern DART line to be open by 2011, is proposed under Iarnród Éireann's Dublin Rail Plan. This "Interconnector" tunnel would include an underground station at Pearse, which would become an important transfer station for commuters between the underground and above ground DART lines. See also Spencer Dock.