Harcourt Street station

The station opened on 7 February 1859, after the initial opening of the railway line itself.[1]

The station facade was designed by George Wilkinson, and contains a central arch and a colonnade of doric columns. The station was constructed on an embankment, with the line 25 feet above street level and a Gilbey's bonded spirits store in the undercroft.[2]

Although the line was double track, the station only had a single 597-foot-long (182 m) platform on the west side of the railway, which terminated in a 48'-diameter (14.6 m) turntable at the Hatch Street end of the station. There were two through sidings on the east side of the station, beyond which lay Harcourt Street goods station and the D&WR's locomotive shed. There was no direct access for arriving trains to the goods station, instead 'Up' Freight trains had to pull into the passenger station, then set back onto the 'Down' line before entering the goods station. This was a contributory factor to the 1900 train crash.[3]

The first signal box was installed in 1878, and was replaced with an electro-mechanical installation in 1938 at which point the station was re-signalled with colour light signals.

The station is perhaps most famous for a train crash in 1900 - a cattle train from Enniscorthy failed to stop and crashed through the end wall of the station, leaving the locomotive suspended over Hatch Street. Nobody was killed, though the driver, William Hyland, had his right arm amputated. The locomotive was lowered down onto the existing DUTC tramway and moved to Harcourt Rd., then by temporary track up the goods entrance (modern Harcourt Court) to the station.

Following the accident, the Board of Trade recommended the installation of a facing junction to allow direct access to the goods line, and until that took place all trains were to stop at Ranelagh to ensure that they made a controlled approach to Harcourt Street station.[4] This practice continued up to its closure.

After the formation of The Great Southern Railways in 1925, Harcourt Street gradually declined in importance as services to the South East were increasingly concentrated on Westland Row (now Pearse) station with goods facilities transferred to the North Wall goods station. Thereafter, apart from during the 1933 GNR(I) strike, Harcourt Street became predominately a passenger station. The station continued operating until 31 December 1958, when Córas Iompair Éireann, during its rationalisation programme of the railway network, closed the line from Harcourt Street.

The Luas light rail network that opened on 30 June 2004 utilised parts of the old route. The station building has been converted into a leisure venue with bars and music venues.[5]

Harcourt Sráid Fhearchair
View from the platform looking north. The station building is visible on the right
Location	Dublin Ireland
Owned by	Transdev
Operated by	Luas
Line(s)	Green
Platforms	2
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Other information
Fare zone	Central
Key dates
30 June 2004	Station opened
Services
Preceding station   Luas   Following station St Stephen's Green towards Broombridge   Green Line   Charlemont towards Brides Glen

In June 2004,[8] the Green Line of the Luas - Dublin's light rail tram system - opened. The Green line mostly followed the route of the old Harcourt Street line from Charlemont to Sandyford (it has since been extended south to Brides Glen). A stop called Harcourt was opened on the site of the old terminus. Because the embankment which led to the station had been demolished replaced with new developments, the Luas line diverges from the old alignment at Charlemont and descends a ramp before continuing north on the streets.

Harcourt Luas stop is directly in front of the entrance to the old station building. It has an island platform - a rarity for Luas stops - which is flanked by tracks running in lanes reserved for trams. Road traffic must travel on the western side of the street.[9]

• 
  Last train before closure 31 December 1958
• 
  After closure in January 1959
• 
  The Harcourt Street train crash, 1900
• 
  Harcourt Luas stop

• Harcourt Street railway line