Dublin Pearse railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dublin Pearse, commonly called Pearse Station, is located on Westland Row in the Southside in Dublin, Ireland, 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 has a café on the southbound platform. This was closed during Autumn 2006, although it reopened (as SoBo Café) in February 2007.
It is the headquarters of Iarnród Éireann's DART/Commuter 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, in December 2004, Iarnród Éireann posted a list of departures from the station 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.
The Transport 21 initative plans an Interconnector tunnel connecting Heuston Station with Pearse Station and onwards to the northern DART network via the new Docklands railway station in Spencer Dock to be open by 2015.
| Preceding station | Iarnród Éireann | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tara Street | Iarnród Éireann Dublin-Rosslare Line |
Dun Laoghaire | ||
| Tara Street | Commuter Northern Commuter |
Terminus | ||
| Commuter South Eastern Commuter |
Lansdowne Road | |||
| Tara Street | Commuter Western Commuter (City Branch) |
Terminus | ||
| Tara Street | DART Trans-Dublin |
Grand Canal Dock | ||
