Dún Laoghaire railway station

The original station for Dún Laoghaire, then known as Kingstown, was situated some {{Convert|0.5|mi|km}} closer to Dublin at the West Pier near to or at the present-day Salthill and Monkstown railway station. That station was the southern terminus of the first railway in Ireland, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR), which opened in 1834.{{sfnp|Kullmann|2018|pp=26–27}} For the first public timetable the station was named Kingstown but in contract documents it was at least sometimes referred to as Dunleary.{{Sfnp|Grierson|1887|pp=108, 116, 120}}

Before the D&KR had even begun to be built it became apparent that the packet boats were to use either the East Pier or the new wharf being built. Therefore, in 1833 the D&KR raised a parliamentary bill so its railway could be extended beyond the East Pier with a new station at Kingstown, then on to Dalkey.{{efn|The D&KR had some eventual ambitions of reaching Bray}} Mobilised opposition from a rival canal group and local opposition caused the Bill to fail in June 1833.{{sfnp|Murray|1981|p=32—37}}

The D&KR regrouped and with lobbying presented a less ambitious bill to the site of the current station only in 1834. Thomas M. Gresham, a D&KR shareholder and main spokesperson for the opposition, being awarded a silver plate in August 1833 for the same at a personal cost of £1,200, was persuaded not to oppose the 1834 bill. Other obstacles including an agreement to cross the old part of Dunleary harbour and demolition of a Martello fortification needed an agreement with the Admiralty and Ordnance. The bill was passed in May 1834 but logistics meant Dargan began work in May 1836 finishing about a year later. The new terminus opened on 13 May 1837, the first train being a special with D&KR directors and friends.{{sfnp|Murray|1981|p=38—42}}{{efn|The 1837 station was essentially based on the north of the current station at and beyond the current Platform 3 terminus platform}}

The original station building was an apparently insufficient Station House and Parcel Office and in 1840 the D&KR resolved to replace it,{{Sfnp|Pearson|1981|p=48}}{{efn|It would reasonable there was work to buildings for the opening of the Dalkey Atmospheric in 1844 but this seems difficult to source}} hiring J. S. Mulvaney as designer.{{sfn|Scannell|2009|page=87}} The new station building eventually cost £2,500 and was designed by Mulvaney using stone quarried in Ballyknockan, County Wicklow in preference to granite from Dalkey quarry (which was located much closer).{{sfn|Scannell|2009|page=87}} The platforms were finally covered in 1845 by a temporary structure costing £122 which was later extended for £300.{{Sfnp|Grierson|1887|pp=127–128}}

On 29 March 1844, the Dalkey Atmospheric Railway officially opened. The line was a branch of the existing D&KR which diverged to the south when approaching from the west with an interchange platform{{efn|This is the current platform 2 which was much wider at its eastern end than now}} before the atmospheric ran as a single track eastbound into the tunnel. While through running was possible it was not used.{{sfnp|Murray|1981|pp=49, 51–53}}

Grierson notes that the station build was completed in 1853 to a design by John Skipton Mulvany by Mr. Roberts doing the "masonry, carpentry, ironmongery, &c," for £1,665. L This included the station walls,{{efn|This may refer to the high station walls still showing in pictures in 2017 to the north of the station and between platforms 2 and 3}} while ironwork, roof, and plumbing cost £1,031 by I. & R. Mallet.{{Sfnp|Grierson|1887|p=127}} The roof has since been removed.{{Sfnp|Kullmann|2018|pp=141–146}} The station house above the platforms was completed in 1854.{{cite web |url=http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/dunlaoghaire/old_station.html |title=Former Railway Station |access-date=2007-10-31 |publisher=Archiseek |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050323085424/http://www.irish-architecture.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/dunlaoghaire/old_station.html |archive-date=23 March 2005 |df=dmy-all }} a structure in a neo-classical style, designed also by Mulvany.{{sfnp|Pearson|1981|p=48}} This was the station building until 1971 when the current arrangement was introduced. Mulvany's building became reused as a restaurant.{{efn|The precise order and details of the builds between 1840 and 1854 have some details that seem somewhat difficult to resolve between the sources and may require expert interpretation or better sources}}

The Dalkey Atmospheric ceased operation in 1854. The Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway exercised their rights and rebuilt the Dalkey to Kingstown section as a conventional railway at {{Track gauge|Irish gauge}} removing height restrictions. When they ran their first train into Kingstown on 10 October 1855, the D&KR directors refused them the use of the station and the passengers were forced to return towards Dalkey, this also happening for some days afterwards.{{Sfnp|Murray|1981|p=73}} On 30 March 1856, both the D&KR and D&WR concurred with the D&KR's engineer D. B. Gibbons assessment that the rebuild under Brunel was not to the parliamentary approved specification in terms and had safety issues and it was closed for rework by William Dargan as an accident would be disastrous for both companies.{{Sfnp|Murray|1981|p=72–74}} Dargan converted the down line between Kingstown and Old Dun Leary harbour to dual gauge so the spoil could be dumped there.{{efn|this would have been in the part put off by the railway which had issues of holding stagnant water}} and was able to complete the re-work quickly.{{Sfnp|Murray|1981|p=74}} When the Dalkey-Bray section re-opened on 1 July 1856 the D&KR handed all its operations to the D&WR.{{Sfnp|Murray|1981|p=74}} The D&WR converted their newly acquired line to {{Track gauge|Irish gauge}} in the next year or so enabling through running.

Carlisle Pier with its branch on the single track section just to the east of the station was created in 1859.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

Although it lay on a double-track railway for over ninety years, Dún Laoghaire station had only one through platform with a bay platform facing Dublin, both on the seaward side of the station. The station lay on a short section of a single line that ran from just north of the station, to just past the junction for the branch to Carlisle Pier, which was controlled by a signal box known as the 'Hole in the Wall Box.' This arrangement created a bottleneck for intensive steam-hauled suburban services to/from Bray. It was not until 1957 that CIÉ remedied the situation by providing a second through platform. Further improvements were carried out in connection with the introduction of DART electric trains in 1984.

A replacement station entrance, with a combined ticket office and automated barriers, was built above the railway lines at street level in 1998. It was constructed with a steel framework supporting a taut sail-like canopy and with glazed panels as side features.

Also called Kingstown Harbour the station was renamed Kingstown in 1861, and renamed Dún Laoghaire in 1921.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} It was given the additional name "Mallin" on 10 April 1966, 50 years after the Easter Rising, when Córas Iompair Éireann renamed 15 major stations after Republican leaders.{{Cite web |last=Duffy |first=Rónán |title=The 15 Irish railway stations named after the executed 1916 leaders |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-rail-1916-2-2744978-Apr2016/ |access-date=28 June 2024 |website=TheJournal.ie |date=30 April 2016 |language=en}} It is named in honour of Michael Mallin, a leader in the 1916 Easter Rising. although it is usually referred to simply as Dún Laoghaire.

{{Dublin-Rosslare railway line}}

{{Dublin Suburban Rail South Eastern|collapse=collapsed}}

{{Trans-Dublin railway|collapse=collapsed}}

Dún Laoghaire has two through platforms and one terminal platform. Unusually, the station building is on a bridge above the platforms, in a setup similar to Leixlip Louisa Bridge railway station. The station has a ticket office, automatic ticket machines and a small coffee shop. The ticket office is open between 05:45-00:06 AM, Monday to Sunday.

From the inception of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) service in 1984, all DART services stop at Dún Laoghaire.

Dún Laoghaire is on the intercity Dublin-Rosslare and commuter Dundalk-Dublin-Arklow-Gorey routes and all trains on these routes stop here. They often run non-stop between Dun Laoghaire and Dublin Pearse, and freight and maintenance trains pass through Dún Laoghaire without stopping.

{{adjacent stations|noclear=y

| system1 = Iarnród Éireann

| note-row1 =

{{rail line|previous=Blackrock
or
Dublin Pearse|next=Bray Daly|route=InterCity
Dublin-Rosslare|col=FFA500}}

{{rail line three routes|previous=Blackrock|next=Bray Daly|route1=Commuter
Northern Commuter
Peak times only |route2=Commuter
Western Commuter
Peak times only|route3=Commuter
South Eastern Commuter|col1=00A550|col2=00A550|col3=00A550}}

{{rail line|previous=Salthill & Monkstown|next=Sandycove & Glasthule
or
Terminus|route=DART
|col=00bb00}}

{{Historical Rail Insert}}

{{Rail line|previous=Salthill|next=Terminus|route=Dublin and Kingstown Railway|col=00008B}}

{{Rail line|previous=Terminus|next=Dalkey|route=Dalkey Atmospheric Railway|col=00008B}}

{{Rail line|previous=Westland Row (later Dublin Pearse)
Line and station open|next=Carlisle Pier
Line and station closed|route=Dublin and South Eastern Railway
Dun Laoghaire boat train|col=00008B}}

}}

Directly outside the station are bus stops for Dublin Bus, Go-Ahead Ireland and other private bus operator routes, a full list of which is provided below:{{fact|date=November 2023}}

There is also a taxi rank near the station on Marine Road, and a car park adjacent to the station in the harbour area.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

The station is where the Killiney-Dún Laoghaire footpath "The Metals" (Ná Ráillí) ends.

It is also next to the former Dún Laoghaire Ferryport, for Stena Line services to Holyhead. This service ceased in September 2014.

• List of railway stations in Ireland

Image:The Town Of Dun Laoghaire In Ireland (13315949165).jpg|The station in 2014

Image:Dun Laoghaire Railway Station (13315971865).jpg|Commuter train arrives from Dublin

Image:Dun Laoghaire railway station in 2008.jpg|DART 8300 Class at Dún Laoghaire Mallin station in 2008

Image:Kingstown railway station Dublin Ireland.jpg|The previous station entrance in 2007

Image:Train at Dun Laoghaire (geograph 2363096).jpg|June 1975, the footbridge was later to become the main entrance

Image:IE80Class.jpg|Chartered NIR diesel train in 1982 before the new entrance

Image:Push-pull train, Dun Laoghaire.jpg|Train in cutting south of the station in 1982

Image:Dun Laoghaire Railway Station (terminal platform) (6977306703).jpg|The terminus platform in 2012, the other side of the wall from the through platforms

Image:Dalkey Atmospheric Railway.jpeg|Dalkey Atmospheric Railway used what is now platform two which was previously wider

Image:The Town Of Dun Laoghaire In Ireland (13316104533).jpg|The southbound platform with the Royal Irish Yacht Club building to rear in 2014

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal|journal=Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland|volume=18|title=The enlargement of Westland Row Terminus Part I|date=1887

|url=https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/home/index.php?DRIS_ID=ICEI-018_001|access-date=23 July 2019|publisher=Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland|first=Thomas B|last=Grierson

|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723153025/https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/home/index.php?DRIS_ID=ICEI-022_001|archive-date=23 July 2019|df=dmy-all}}

• {{cite report|last1=Little|first1=Stephen|title=Proposed cruise berth facility, Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Environmental Impact Statement|chapter=5.11 Architectural Heritage|date=June 2015|url=http://www.pleanala.ie/publicaccess/EIAR-NIS/PA0042-PA0051/EIS%20Volume%201%20Written Statement/EIS_Chapter_5_11_Architectural_Heritage.pdf|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923205412/http://www.pleanala.ie/publicaccess/EIAR-NIS/PA0042-PA0051/EIS%20Volume%201%20Written%20Statement/EIS_Chapter_5_11_Architectural_Heritage.pdf|archive-date=23 September 2019|df=dmy-all}}
• {{cite book|title=The First Irish Railway: Westland Row to Kingstown|first=Kurt|last=Kullmann|date=28 May 2018|isbn=978-0750987646|publisher=THP Ireland}}
• {{cite book|last=Murray|first=K. A.|title=Ireland's First Railway|year=1981|publisher=Irish Railway Record Society|location=Dublin|isbn=0-904078-07-8}}
• {{cite book |title=Dun Laoghaire Kingstown |isbn=0-905140-83-4 |first1=Peter |last1=Pearson |publisher=O'Brien Press |year=1981 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dunlaoghaireking00pear_0|author-link=Peter Pearson (painter, born 1955)|ol = 22450451M |publication-place = Dublin}}
• {{cite journal |last = Scannell| first = James|title = From Kingstown to Dalkey By Air (The Atmospheric Railway 1844-1854)| journal = Dublin Historical Record| volume = 62| issue = 1| pages = 83-97| publisher = Old Dublin Society| location = Dublin| date = 2009-03-01| jstor = 27806814| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27806814}}

{{refend}}

{{commons category|Dún Laoghaire railway station}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140110122052/http://www.irishrail.ie/Dun%20Laoghaire%20(Mallin) Irish Rail Dún Laoghaire Station Website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dun Laoghaire Railway Station}}

Category:Iarnród Éireann stations in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown

Category:Railway stations serving harbours and ports in Ireland

Category:Dún Laoghaire

Category:Railway stations in the Republic of Ireland opened in 1837