
A commuter train is seen in Pearse station.
'Dublin Pearse', commonly called 'Pearse Station' (
Irish: 'Stáisiún na bPiarsach'), 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 on
17 December 1834 as Westland Row station
[1], 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 initiative 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.
See also
★
Rail transport in Ireland
★
History of rail transport in Ireland
External links
★
Station information from irishrail.ie
References
1. Dublin Westland Row station