PUBLIC TRANSPORT

All Photographs Supplied By William Murphy

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THE LUAS TRAM STOP ON HARCOURT STREET

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OUTSIDE WHAT WAS ONCE AN IMPORTANT TRAIN STATION

Harcourt Street is a vibrant and historic street located in Dublin’s city centre, known for its diverse architecture, cultural attractions, and lively atmosphere. But it’s not just about history! Harcourt Street is also famous for its buzzing nightlife, with popular nightclubs like Copper Face Jacks and Tripod drawing crowds, especially on weekends. This adds to the energetic atmosphere of the street, particularly in the evenings.

The street is also home to a significant landmark in Dublin’s transport network: the Harcourt Street Luas stop.

The Tram Stop

The Harcourt Street Luas stop is situated directly in front of the former Harcourt Street railway station, a grand Victorian building that once served as the terminus for the Dublin to Bray railway line. The station, which opened in 1859 and closed in 1958, has been repurposed and now houses a variety of commercial and residential spaces.

The Luas stop itself is a modern addition to the street, having opened in 2004 as part of the Green Line. It features an island platform, a rarity for Luas stops, which is flanked by tracks running in lanes reserved for trams. Road traffic must travel on the western side of the street.
 
The stop is a major transportation hub for the area, connecting passengers to various destinations along the Green Line, including Broombridge, Parnell, and Sandyford. It also provides easy access to other modes of transport, such as Dublin Bus and the Dublinbikes bike-sharing scheme – you’ll find a Dublinbikes docking station on nearby Clonmel Street.

Key features of the Harcourt Street Luas stop:

Accessibility: The stop is fully accessible, with ramps and lifts for wheelchair users and those with mobility impairments.
Real-time information: Digital displays provide up-to-the-minute information on tram arrivals and departures.
Ticket machines: Passengers can purchase tickets at the station using ticket machines or the Luas app.
Security: The stop is monitored by CCTV cameras for passenger safety.

Points of interest near the Harcourt Street Luas stop:

National Concert Hall: A premier venue for classical music concerts and other cultural events.
Iveagh Gardens: A beautifully landscaped park offering a tranquil escape from the city bustle. The entrance to the gardens is on Clonmel Street, a short street just off Harcourt Street.
Grafton Street: A popular shopping destination with a wide variety of high-street stores and boutiques.
St. Stephen’s Green: A large park in the heart of Dublin, perfect for picnics and leisurely strolls.

AT OR NEAR THE BROADSTONE PLAZA OR THE GRANGEGORMAN GATE

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THE LUAS TRAM STOP IS LOCATED HERE

Broadstone is one of three neighbourhood’s that together form the modern-day Phibsboro area in Dublin, Ireland. Situated furthest south among these, it starts just two kilometers north of the Father Mathew Bridge at Ormond Quay. The area is triangular in shape, bordered by Phibsborough Road and Constitution Hill on the west, North Circular Road on the north, and Dorset Street and Bolton Street on the southeast. Its postal code is Dublin 7.

The Grangegorman Gate, built as part of the Luas Cross City project, serves as a vital entrance to the Grangegorman University campus. This completed public plaza now significantly connects Grangegorman to the heart of Dublin. It’s located off Constitution Hill where the old Royal Canal once was, at the site of the former Great Western Railway Station (commonly called Broadstone), and is now a major gateway to the Grangegorman urban quarter.

The Broadstone area, bordering Grangegorman on its east, underwent a Part VIII planning process in 2014 to enable site development and gate access.

The Grangegorman Masterplan envisions the main urban path through Grangegorman, St Brendan’s Way, connecting with the Broadstone Gate, ultimately reaching Prussia Street. This Broadstone link can also be viewed as an extension of Dublin’s historic 18th-century core, which stretched from Dublin Castle across Grattan Bridge, along Capel Street/Bolton Street, to Henrietta Street and King’s Inn.

SANDYMOUNT LUAS TRAM STOP

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25 SEPTEMBER 2023

When I was young I had a few friends who lived in Sandyford which was in the country rather than the city. It was often the case that they could not come to school because of snow.

Sandyford is a suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland.

Sandyford Business District makes up much of the suburb and encompasses 4 business parks: Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park and South County Business Park. Some of the multinational companies based in the area include Google, Facebook, Microsoft and AIB.

The Luas Green Line was built through the Business District and the Kilmacud, Stillorgan, Sandyford and Central Park stops serve the area, the middle two lying along the eastern edge of the original district. All four of these stops are in the Sandyford Business District. Sandyford was the Green Line terminus until the extension to Cherrywood opened in October 2010. The depot for the Green Line is located on the eastern edge of the Business District.

Sandyford House, a pub in the centre of the village, has been an inn and coach house since the 1690s. For 200 years it was a stopping place for travellers en route to Enniskerry. From 1803 onwards, the Chatham Street to Enniskerry mail coach (a two-hour journey) stopped and deposited the region’s mail at the inn, which acted as the local post office.

Sandyford Business District spans one of the biggest business parks in Ireland, consisting of over 1,000 companies employing approximately 26,000 people. It was officially opened in June 1967 on a site of 120 acres and for 50 years was known as the “Sandyford Industrial Estate”; 85 acres allocated to light industry and the rest to offices.

The area includes several separate business parks and sites, including Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park, and South County Business Park.

A proposal to establish a Sandyford Business District area, to include the core Sandyford Business Park as well as the other areas, resulted in the establishment of the Sandyford Business Improvement District Company (SBID) in January 2017. The area has capacity for 17,500 more employees, 350,000 sq m of commercial floor space and 1,000 residential units.

Companies in the business district include American Airlines, Barclaycard, Canon, Microsoft, Novell, and Vodafone Ireland. The Irish Management Institute also has its headquarters in northern Sandyford. The Irish Mint, a division of the Central Bank of Ireland, is located in Sandyford, west of the M50 and north of the village.

TRAM CROSSING THE WILLIAM DARGAN BRIDGE

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DUNDRUM 24 AUGUST 2023

William Dargan MRDS (28 February 1799 – 7 February 1867) was arguably the most important Irish engineer of the 19th century and certainly the most important figure in railway construction. Dargan designed and built Ireland’s first railway line from Dublin to Dún Laoghaire in 1833. In total he constructed over 1,300 km (800 miles) of railway to important urban centres of Ireland. He was a member of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and also helped establish the National Gallery of Ireland.

He was also responsible for the Great Dublin Exhibition held at Leinster lawn in 1853. His achievements were honoured in 1995, when the Dargan Railway Bridge in Belfast was opened, and again in 2004 when the Dargan Bridge, Dublin a new cable stayed bridge for Dublin’s Light Railway Luas were both named after him.