Heuston railway station

Heuston Station (/ˈhjuːstən/ (listen) HEW-stən; Irish: Stáisiún Heuston; formerly Kingsbridge Station) also known as Dublin Heuston, is Dublin's largest, and busiest railway station, linking the capital with the south, southwest and west of Ireland. 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).[3] The station is named in honour of Seán Heuston, an executed leader of the 1916 Easter Rising, who had worked in the station's offices.

Dublin Heuston

Baile Átha Cliath Stáisiún Heuston

The station in late 2006
LocationSt John's Road West
Dublin 8
D08 E2CV
Ireland
Coordinates53.3465°N 6.2925°W / 53.3465; -6.2925
Owned byIarnród Éireann
Operated byIarnród Éireann
Platforms9
Bus routes
  • 25
  • 25A
  • 25B
  • 66
  • 66A
  • 67
  • 67A
  • 67X
  • 90
  • 145
  • 747
Bus operatorsDublin Bus
ConnectionsLuas Red Line
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
ParkingYes
ArchitectSancton Wood (terminal)
John MacNeill (train shed)[1][2]
Other information
Station codeHSTON
Fare zoneSuburban 1
History
Opened4 August 1846 (1846-08-04)
ElectrifiedNo
Original companyGreat Southern and Western Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Southern and Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Southern Railways
Key dates
1846Station opened as Kingsbridge Station
1966Renamed as Heuston Station
1998, 2004 and 2005Station refurbished and partially rebuilt
Services
Preceding station   Iarnród Éireann   Following station
Terminus   InterCity
Dublin-Cork
  Newbridge
or
Kildare
or
Portlaoise
Terminus   InterCity
Dublin-Waterford
  Newbridge
  InterCity
Dublin-Limerick via Thurles
 
Terminus   InterCity
Dublin–Galway
  Hazelhatch
& Celbridge
Terminus   InterCity
Dublin–Westport/Ballina
  Kildare
or
Newbridge
Terminus   InterCity
Dublin-Tralee
  Portlaoise
Terminus   Commuter
South Western Commuter
  Park West &
Cherry Orchard
Preceding station   Luas   Following station
Museum
towards Connolly or The Point
  Red Line   James's
towards Tallaght or Saggart
  Proposed  
Terminus   Commuter
South Western Commuter
  Heuston West
Interior of the station looking towards the track area in 2018
Ticketing area in 2018

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.[4][5] In 1966, on the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, it was renamed "Heuston Station" in honour of Seán Heuston, a young railway worker who commanded a nearby post in the 1916 Easter Rising. Heuston was one of the 16 executed by the British after that Rising, and had previously worked in the station's offices.[5]

The passenger terminal and buildings were built to designs by London-born architect Sancton Wood, and the train sheds and infrastructure were designed by Irish-born railway engineer John MacNeill.[1]

When first constructed the station had only two platforms separated by 5 carriage lines. Two of the lines were subsequently replaced by a two-sided platform and the remaining carriage line also removed. An additional platform, created in 1872 on the south side of the station, beyond the station roof, was known as the "military platform" - the intention being that military personnel could be kept separate from the rest of the public.[6] Due to the need to cater for increased demand and reduce delays, three new platforms were incorporated in August 2002 as part of a 170,000,000 development incorporating improved signalling and approach track-work.[7]

Since the station's refurbishment and modernisation (by Quinn Savage Smyth architects and engineers Buro Happold)[8] its retail facilities now include two branches of Eason, a Marks & Spencer Simply Food store, as well as some dining facilities, including a branch of Supermacs, several cafés, a kiosk, and a large pub.[9]

A maintenance depot at the Inchicore railway works is located approximately three kilometres (two miles) away and, as with Heuston Station itself, was also opened in 1846.[10]

Operation

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 on Sundays at all stations 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).

Heuston is the terminus for the mainline to Cork, and there are key service and transfer points in the Cork-bound direction at:

Before 2016, the physical rail link between Connolly Station and Heuston via the Phoenix Park Tunnel 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 at Croke Park. A more regular service along this route began on 21 November 2016.[11]

The Luas light rail red line connects the two stations (apart from off-peak Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays).[12] 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 2002-2004 upgrade, there were five terminal platforms.[13][14]

The through platform is numbered Platform 10 and is situated on the Phoenix Park Tunnel line, which connects to Connolly Station.[14] There is no platform nine.[14] Platform 10 is some distance from the main concourse and is not used for any regularly scheduled trains.

Proposed developments

A 2018 consultation paper for the proposed Dublin MetroLink project included a reference to a potential future station, labelled "Heuston West", with connections via the Phoenix Park Tunnel to Cabra.[15]

Other plans, first published in the 1970s,[16][17] suggested that a proposed DART Underground project would link underground stations at Heuston and Pearse Street via a tunnel.[18][19] As of 2015, these plans were subject to review,[19] and as of mid-2018, the DART Underground project was not funded.[20]

Heuston Luas stop

Heuston
A tram at Heuston in 2005
LocationDublin
Ireland
Owned byTransdev
Operated byLuas
Line(s)Red
Platforms3
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
Other information
Fare zoneCentral/Red 2
Key dates
26 September 2004Station opened
Services
Preceding station   Luas   Following station
James's
towards Tallaght or Saggart
  Red Line   Museum
towards Connolly or The Point

Heuston is an interchange with Dublin's Luas light rail tram system. Opened in 2004,[21] Heuston Luas stop is located in front of the station building; the tram tracks run perpendicular to the main line tracks. To the north of the stop, trams cross the River Liffey on the Seán Heuston Bridge, which was refurbished as part of the Luas construction. To the south, trams travel up Steeven's lane, which is closed to road vehicles other than those accessing St. Patrick's University Hospital.[22]

Heuston has three platforms - more than any other Luas stop. There are two outer edge platforms and two sides of an island platform. The two platforms nearest the station serve the same section of track, used for northbound trams travelling towards Connolly or The Point. The platform nearest St. John's Road West is for southbound trams travelling towards Tallaght and Saggart. The eastern side of the island is a terminus platform, used only in certain peak times, when extra services are run in the city centre section.

Passenger numbers

YearsDaily Passenger Boardings and AlightingsChange
201216,748[23]-
201317,581[24] 833
201418,667[25] 1,086
201519,319[26] 652
201619,544[27] 225
201722,296[28] 2,752

See also

References

  1. "1846 – Heuston Station, Dublin". Architecture of Dublin City. Archiseek. 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  2. "Rewind - Kingsbridge/Heuston Station". echo.ie. The Echo. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  3. "CIÉ Annual Report 2014" (PDF). cie.ie. CIÉ. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2015. The [CIÉ] books of account are kept in Heuston Station, Dublin 8 [..] Secretary of the Board [..] Heuston Station, Dublin 8
  4. "Dublin Kingsbridge station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
  5. Boyd-Hope, Gary; Beaumont, Jonathan (14 August 2017). "How The Railways Remembered Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising". Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  6. Murray, K. A.; McNeil, D.B. (1976). The Great Southern & Western Railway. Irish Record Railway Society. pp. 170, 171. ISBN 0904078051.
  7. "A New Improved Heuston Station 2002". rte.ie. RTÉ. 22 August 2002. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  8. "Heuston Station". quinnarchitects.ie. Quinn Architects. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  9. "M&S Simply Food Opens in Heuston Station". 98fm.ie. 98FM. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  10. "Inchicore Railway Works, Dublin 8, Dublin City". buildingsofireland.ie. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  11. "Plans for four trains an hour in Phoenix Park tunnel next year". The Herald. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  12. "Luas - Red Line Frequency". luas.ie. Luas. Archived from the original on 30 November 2011.
  13. "Heuston to have four new platforms". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 15 February 2002. Retrieved 29 November 2018. Iarnrod Éireann is planning four new platforms for Heuston Station [..] The four new platforms will be added to the existing five
  14. "Heuston Re-development". irrs.ie. Irish Railway Record Society. 2002. Archived from the original on 31 October 2017.
  15. "Metrolink Public Consultation Document" (PDF). data.tii.ie. Transport Infrastructure Ireland. 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  16. "Whatever happened to... An underground rail line through Dublin's city centre?". thejournal.ie. The Journal. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  17. "Could an underground Dart solve Dublin's traffic gridlock? It's being considered". thejournal.ie. The Journal. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018. the Dart Underground, previously known as the Interconnector [was] Originally conceived of in the 1972 Transportation in Dublin plan
  18. "DART Underground Webpage". irishrail.ie. Irish Rail. Archived from the original on 3 March 2015.
  19. DART Expansion Programme Business Case (PDF) (Report). Irish Rail. 24 April 2015. p. 46. On the basis of the issues raised [in 2008] during the design review, Iarnród Éireann [instead proposed] extending DART Underground to terminate within CIÉ lands at Inchicore as opposed to Heuston Station
  20. "Office plan scrapped to facilitate shelved Dart Underground". irishtimes.com. Irish Times. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018. the [DART Underground] project having been shelved by the Government [in 2011, does] not have government funding [and] was not included in the 10-year National Development Plan published earlier [in 2018]
  21. https://web.archive.org/web/20080228163348/http://www.rpa.ie/luas/about_luas/background
  22. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Heuston/@53.3464074,-6.2924601,17.87z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48670c36fdf4a5f5:0xf95dbbf18e626d96!8m2!3d53.3466602!4d-6.2919185
  23. "Rail Census 2012" (PDF). nationaltransport.ie. 2013. p. 16. Boardings Heuston 8,650 [..] Alightings Heuston 8,098
  24. "Rail Census 2013" (PDF). 2014. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2017. Table 10 Top ten stations by the number of boardings and alightings, 2013 and rank in 2012 [..] Boardings [..] Heuston 3. 8,662 (3) [..] Alightings [..] Heuston 3. 8,919 (3)
  25. "Rail Census 2014" (PDF). nationaltransport.ie. 2015. p. 15. Heuston (3) 9,394 [..] Heuston (3) 9,273
  26. "National Heavy Rail Census 2015" (PDF). nationaltransport.ie. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2017.
  27. "National Heavy Rail Census Report 2016" (PDF). nationaltransport.ie. 2017. p. 21. Top 10 stations by number of boardings and alightings, 2016 (and rank in 2015) [..] Boardings [..] Heuston (-) 9,537 [..] Alightings [..] Heuston (-) 10,007
  28. "National Heavy Rail Census 2017" (PDF). nationaltransport.ie. 2018. p. 19. Top 10 stations by number of boardings and alightings, 2017 (and rank in 2016) [..] Boardings [..] Heuston (-) 10,700 [..] Alightings [..] Heuston (-) 11,596
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