Dublin Connolly railway station façade in 2006
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Location |
Amiens Street, Dublin 1, D01 V6V6 Republic of Ireland |
Coordinates | 53°21′04″N 6°15′01″W / 53.351210°N 6.250185°WCoordinates: 53°21′04″N 6°15′01″W / 53.351210°N 6.250185°W |
Owned by | Iarnród Éireann |
Operated by | Iarnród Éireann |
Platforms | 9 (including 2 for Luas) |
Construction | |
Structure type | At-grade |
Other information | |
Station code | CNLLY |
Fare zone | Suburban 1 |
History | |
Opened | November 29, 1844 |
Key dates | |
1844 | Opened as Dublin Station |
1854 | Renamed Amiens Street Station |
1966 | Renamed Connolly Station after Irish revolutionary and socialist James Connolly on the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising |
1983 | Station upgraded |
1999 | Station refurbished and partially rebuilt |
Dublin Connolly (Irish: Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile) is one of the main railway stations in Dublin, Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. Opened in 1844 as Amiens Street Station, the ornate facade has a distinctive Italianate tower at its centre. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCity and commuter services to the north, north-west, south-east and south-west. The North-South Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) service also passes through the station. The station offices are the headquarters of Irish Rail, Iarnród Éireann.
The station opened on 29 November 1844 by the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Company as Dublin Station, but was renamed Amiens Street Station ten years later after the street on which it is located. Originally the station served only a single mainline to Drogheda, and in 1853 through services to Belfast commenced. In 1891, the City of Dublin Junction Railway connected the station with Westland Row Station (now Pearse Station) on the city's South side. The City of Dublin Junction had a separate station known as Amiens Street Junction consisting of the present platforms 5, 6, and 7 (currently used by DART and Commuter services) with a separate street entrance. After the amalgamation of the GNR (I) at the end of the 1950s, this station became part of Amiens Street and the separate entrance fell into disuse. The City of Dublin Junction Railway allowed services to run from Amiens Street through to Westland Row to Rosslare and the South East. Services to Sligo were transferred to Westland Row (Pearse Station) running non-stop through the station in 1937, with the closure of Broadstone Station by CIÉ (see also MGWR). Services to Galway and Mayo also terminated at Westland Row, operating through Connolly Station after 1937, running via Mullingar and Athlone. This was discontinued in the 1970s in favour of running services from Heuston Station. Sunday trains to Cork, Limerick and Waterford during the 1960s operated from Connolly platforms 5, 6 and 7 through the Phoenix Park Tunnel, so as to avoid the cost of opening Heuston for the limited Sunday traffic demand at that time.