Connolly station

Dublin Connolly Baile Átha Cliath Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile
The façade of the station, 2006
General information
Location	Amiens Street, Dublin 1, D01 V6V6 Republic of Ireland
Coordinates	53.351210°N 6.250185°W / 53.351210; -6.250185
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	29 November 1844 (1844-11-29)
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 (Template:Lang-ga) is the busiest railway station in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. 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. Opened in 1844 as Dublin Station, the ornate facade has a distinctive Italianate tower at its centre.

Services

Connolly has seven platforms; four terminal (1-4) and three through - the former Amiens Street Junction station - (5-7). The ticket office is open from 06:30 hrs to 19:00 hrs, Monday to Sunday. The station also features a depot for the Commuter, the InterCity and the Enterprise.

InterCity

There are three InterCity routes served:

• The Enterprise service to Belfast Central (intermediate stops, Drogheda, Dundalk, Newry, Portadown and Lisburn)
• Sligo Mac Diarmada non-stop to Maynooth and calling at all stations to Sligo. Peak services call at Drumcondra.
• Rosslare Europort, calling at Tara Street, Dublin Pearse, Dun Laoghaire, Bray, Greystones and all stations to Rosslare Europort. Not all services call at Kilcoole. Peak services call at Blackrock and Lansdowne Road. (The 16:37 departure from Connolly to Rosslare Europort offers a connection to ferries for Wales and France.

DART

DART use platforms equipped with overhead wires (Platforms 4, 5, 6, and 7). Terminal platform 4 is also electrified, which is used by one DART service daily, Monday to Friday, the 07:50 to Malahide. As of January 2018 there are 4 DART's per hour in each direction. These are: Northbound

2 per hour to Howth

2 per hour to Malahide

Southbound

2 per hour to Bray

2 per hour to Greystones

For now most trains go from Greystones to Malahide and Bray to Howth. Irish rail is expected to increase the DART to every ten minutes which would increase the amount of train per hour in Howth and Malahide to 3. It would increase the DART's terminating at Bray to 4 per hour but would keep Greystones as 2 per hour. Peak services also terminate at Dún Laoghaire. Irish rail also plan to expand the DART lines to Maynooth, Hazelhatch and Balbriggan or Drogheda.

Commuter

Some of the commuter services run along the DART lines as far as Malahide. There is roughly 2 commuter service per hour in each direction at off peak times. These are:

Maynooth from platform 6 or 7 Calling at all stations to Maynooth.

Drogheda from platform 6 or 7 Calling at Malahide and all stations to Drogheda. Some services also call at Howth Junction, Clongriffin and Portmarnock. Some services are extended to Dundalk.

2 trains per hour to Dublin Pearse from platform 5 or 6.

Peak services also run to Longford, Hazelhatch, Newbridge, Newry, Dundalk, Balbriggan, Grand Canal Dock and Bray. There is also 3 trains per day from M3 Parkway to Connolly but do not run the return journey.

Statistics

Year	Daily Passenger Exit and Entry	Change
2012	27,605	NA
2013	25,823	1,782
2014	24,960	863
2015	28,506	3,846
2016	30,966	2,460

History

Main article: History of rail transport in Ireland

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, Commuter and Rosslare 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.

In 1966, the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, the station's name was changed to Connolly Station after Irish revolutionary and socialist James Connolly. At the same time, other main stations were renamed after patriots executed for their roles in the Rising.

At the commencement of DART services in 1984, the City of Dublin Junction Railway entrance was refurbished and reopened for commuters.

During the late 1990s, Connolly Station was completely renovated and partially rebuilt. An entirely new station hall was built, the roof over platforms 1 to 4 was replaced, and a new bar/café and shops were installed. The former DART/Suburban station entrance (City of Dublin Junction Railway entrance) and the secondary station hall built with the DART (further north on Amiens Street) were again closed, but a new entrance on the International Financial Services Centre side was opened. The Luas Red Line began serving the station in 2004. As part of the preparation for this, the ramp that had been a bus terminus was demolished and replaced with a two-platform tram station connected to the main concourse by escalators and lift.

Docklands railway station

The opening of Docklands Station in March 2007 has provided an extra terminus station to take pressure from Dublin Connolly. During Monday to Friday peak times, trains from M3 Parkway and Dunboyne arrive at Docklands. It also provides an alternative terminus for the Western Commuter line to Mullingar if needed.

Docklands is the planned terminus for services to Navan.

As part of the DART Underground, Docklands will be replaced or supplemented by a new underground Spencer Dock station; this will further increase capacity in Connolly Station.

City Centre Resignalling Project

According to Iarnród Éireann, the project has provided the ability to operate 20 trains per hour in both directions through the Howth Junction to Grand Canal Dock line, which caters for Howth DARTs, Malahide DARTs, Northern Commuter trains, Belfast Enterprise services, Sligo InterCity, Western and South Western Commuter services, as well as other services in the Connolly to Grand Canal Dock area. This means that more trains travel through Connolly rather than terminating; it has also facilitated the use of the Phoenix Park rail tunnel for commuter rail connections. The project began in March 2015 and was commissioned on 17 July 2016.

Future

Connolly Station Area Redevelopment

This project will involve redeveloping the east section of the Connolly station area "to provide 81,500 sq. m. of mixed commercial, residential community and leisure uses comprising 50,200 sq. m. of office accommodation; 106 apartments; a hotel; retail and restaurants and a crèche."

In April 2012 CIÉ received planning approval from Dublin city Council for the redevelopment. This project was put to tender by CIÉ in Autumn 2015. In September 2017 CIÉ announced it was seeking a partner to develop Connolly Station site.

Arrivals/Departures board in 2006

Departures board in June 2015

Connections

While Connolly mainly connects Dublin to the East Coast of Ireland and to Sligo, Dublin Heuston serves the South and West of the country. Connolly Station is connected to Heuston via the Luas tram. Rail links connect the two stations passing through a tunnel under the Phoenix Park. Since 21 November 2016, passenger services regularly use it. Up until then, its main purpose was the transfer of rolling stock and locomotives (the main service depot is at Inchicore, just outside Heuston).

Commuter 2800 Class (left) and DART 8200 Class (right) trains at Dublin Connolly Station

Rail and ferry connections at Dublin Port

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
	Ferry services
Terminus		Irish Ferries Ferry		Holyhead
Terminus		Stena Line Ferry		Holyhead

The station is connected by bus to Dublin Port with Stena Line ferries from the Ferry Terminal to Holyhead, with connecting trains along the North Wales Coast Line to Bangor (Gwynedd) railway station, Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Chester, Crewe and stations to London Euston. SailRail is promoted as a viable alternative to air transport by using trains and ferries to reach places across the Irish Sea.

Holyhead can also be reached by Irish Ferries or Stena Line from Dublin Port, reached by walking beside the tram lines around the corner from Amiens Street, Dublin into Store Street or by Luas one stop to Busáras where Dublin Bus operates a service to the Ferry Terminal, or Dublin Bus route 53 or to take a taxi.

Platform 3 at Connolly Station with a 29000 Class arriving on platform 4

Former ferry and DART connection at Dún Laoghaire

The ferry service from Dún Laoghaire was discontinued indefinitely in September 2014. Passengers traveled on the DART to Dún Laoghaire to sail using the Stena Line service. Now the route is a bus via Dublin Port to Holyhead as above.

Rail and ferry connections at Rosslare Europort

InterCity trains from Connolly to Rosslare Europort connect with the evening ferry to Fishguard Harbour with through ticketing to places including Carmarthen, Llanelli and Swansea.

Irish Ferries and Stena Line operate ferries from Rosslare Europort to Cherbourg in France. There is also a seasonal route to Roscoff operated by Irish Ferries.

See also

• List of railway stations in Ireland
• Dublin Connolly DART station

Gallery

• 
  Main Concourse
• 
  Mainline sheds at Connolly Station
• 
  NIR Locomotive 8208 leading an Enterprise service to Belfast Central
• 
  The Luas tram stop

Bibliography

• Johnson, S. (1997). Johnson's Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland, Midland Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85780-044-3.
• O'Connor, K. (1999). The Great Northern Railway in Ironing the Land, The Coming of the Railways to Ireland, pp. 23–45. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. ISBN 0-7171-2747-8. (see also RTÉ TV series of same title)

External links

• Irish Rail Dublin Connolly Station Website
• Luas Connolly Stop information