Re-open Broadstone!!!
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You had a fantastic profile of the station recently on this site – congrataultions to those involved!
Anyway, visited the actual site recently and it is probably the most maligned and magnificent building in Ireland. It is unbelievable that the surrounding area is just a big bus park!
There must be over fifty acres in the entire complex – and given most of the alignments of the old station to Navan are still in place, here are a few suggestions….
1. Tranfer the bus depot to the M50 Ring.
2. Re-open Broadstone as a mainline trainstation, connecting Dublin to Navan, with commuter stops in between.
3. The MASSIVE landbank surrounding the station should be sold off to part finance the reopening – and given its proximity to the centre, and transport links, it would be ideal for large scale office development – something that Smithfield is bereft of.
4. Finally, the petrol station, the two odd houses in front, and the three corporation blocks should be removed – opening up the Sation for all to admire, and creating the biggest public plaza in Ireland – and what a plaza, with Kings Inns and the Station enclosing it.Dream on….but maybe someone with a brain in govenment will realise how senseless Broadstone is in its current state, both aesthetically and commercially….
Originally posted by J. Seerski
1. Tranfer the bus depot to the M50 Ring.
2. Re-open Broadstone as a mainline trainstation, connecting Dublin to Navan, with commuter stops in between.
3. The MASSIVE landbank surrounding the station should be sold off to part finance the reopening – and given its proximity to the centre, and transport links, it would be ideal for large scale office development – something that Smithfield is bereft of.
4. Finally, the petrol station, the two odd houses in front, and the three corporation blocks should be removed – opening up the Sation for all to admire, and creating the biggest public plaza in Ireland – and what a plaza, with Kings Inns and the Station enclosing it.
1. Agreed, but the unions will object.
2. The problem with Broadstone, even in 1938 when it closed, was that it was viewed as being too far out from the City Centre. Maybe if a LUAS Line was run to it to provide an onward connection, this could be overcome.
3. I agree, but not in the present climate where office space is a devalued commodity.
4. This was proposed many years ago by Dublin Corporation, but like so many ideas, died a quick death.Dublin Bus is building a new depot in Finglas. Maybe they have longterm plans for Broadstone which havent surfaced yet
ok, but it really isn’t that far from the city – its closer than Heuston – and no one would even think of closing that!
and what the hell is “a devalued commodity”???
New office space is always in demand – its the old rubbish like O’Connell Bridge House and that ilk that find it difficult to survive in an economic downturn.
Broadstone is ideally placed to serve the city and if reopened could act as a massive economic regenerator to a part of the city which is dull, sleepy and lacks one important aspect – people!!!
The city centre is too small for a city of over 1 million. It needs to be expanded – can you really say that Broadstone – less than a kilometer from Parnell Square – is too far from the city centre?
Originally posted by J. Seerski
and what the hell is “a devalued commodity”???.Have you been around Dublin City recently? Empty office blocks everywhere. I walk from Grand Canal Dock DART Station to Wilton PLace everyday. From Shelbourne Road up to Lower Mount Street, there are 5 buildings in a line with “To Let” signs outside them. Dublin is oversupplied with office space at the moment
The area was identified as an area where high-rise may work – and given the vast expanse behind Broadstone it may just suit here.
A legal quater – maybe. But the key to a regeneration here would have to involve reopening Broadstone. It is not far from the city centre as has been suggested. The entire northwestern sector of the city would benefit greatly from reopening of the railway line. Closing Broadstone in 1938 was of its time – Navan was just a sleepy town then! Mistakes were made, and they should be rectified, not await the fate of Harcourt Street railway.
Actually this is not as far-fetched as it sounds, though the issues involved are a little more complex.
The land and buildings at Broadstone actually comprise 4 different depots/works, which taken together form the biggest bus-garage anywhere in Europe.
They makeup is as follows:
(1) Phibsboro Garage (Dublin Bus) – self-contained with modern (1970s) purpose built engineering and office buildings. This is the site closest to the flats, and is essentially up the steep ramp that you see as you come in off the main road onto the site. The Driver Training School is also located here.
(2) Broadstone Garage (Bus Eireann) – this garage comprises a large open area of parking, which serves the Bus Eireann fleet (Express coaches & rural and commuter buses) for most of the East Coast of Ireland and counties surrounding Dublin. The maintainence area is converted from the inside of the old railway station. The magnificant main station frontage is used as the Head Office of Bus Eireann, and is largely unaltered inside.
I was there recently, and was shown a wonderful high hallway with balcony and sweeping staircase, closed off for many years after someone apparently tried to jump off the balcony in despair.
(3) Broadstone Depot – Dublin Bus.
This is towards the back of the site, on the old railway alignment, and was for many years the scrapyard where all CIE buses were destroyed after their 16 year life. Scrapping is now contracted out (and the company is now finally enlightened enough to be selling the vehicles on the second-hand market instead of destroying them) and in 2000 this area was refurbished and reopened as a new Dublin Bus depot, to cater for the massive fleet expansion under the NDP. (we have about 170 more buses in the Dublin fleet now than there were in 1998, and the existing garages were bursting at the seams).(4) Broadstone Works – Dublin Bus.
A fascinating rabbit-warren of old railway buildings, between the new garage and the main road, reached either from the garage, or through an old stone archway near the fire-station. Until the mid-80s this was a major centre for mechanical overhaul and refurbishment of all CIE vehicles, now it is mostly empty buildings, though many people still work there. Traditionally new buses were inspected here before dispatch to the depots, so they would emerge through the archway when brand new, and dissapear back through the same arch 16-20 years later to be cut up in the scrapyard. The Works buildings are 90% unused, and have terrifiic potential as apartments etc – lots of little courtyards, wonderful old stone buildings and sheds etc.The future:
Dublin Bus is building a new 250+ vehicle depot at Harristown, just off the M50. This was originally intended for fleet expansion, but investment in extra vehicles (rather than just replacements) under the NDP has all but stopped now. The company recently published a tender on the e-tenders site, looking for a consultation study into the possibility of moving many of the buses and operations currently based at Broadstone into a new out-of-town location (Harristown?).
Given that the land bank is actually owned by CIE, which is to be broken up, and the companies (Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus) will be in comptition with each other as opposed to the current sibling relationship, it will be interesting to see how the whole Broadstone issue is sorted out.
Given that it currently houses an operation fleet of well over 600 buses, I could not see it being entirely replaced – you would need three complete multi-million euro depots to do that.
But equally I could see the old works buildings becoming some very salable real estate . . .
Gabriel
ps – sorry this post was so long!
Yeah, but you neglect the re-opening bit.
Its not a question of viability – its to do with priority. The existing transport infrastucture in Dublin is – as we all know – inadequate. Instead of spending billions on new projects from scratch, it would be better to reopen a link that has most of the essentials (land, lines, stations etc.) in place rather than start from the beginning and waste more money in the process.
it should be remembered that within 20 years the whole of grangegorman is intended to be developed into a campus to rival u.c.d. this would make the whole area a rejuvenated centre for education, and consequentially a residential centre, shopping and also business centre. someone in cie or bus eireann or whoever is in charge of the whole mess has to realise they are sitting on a prime centre for growth in the 21st century. it is possible they are simply holding out for better prospects, looking forward to the day when land values increase in the area. what of the proposal to make the front of the kings inn and the courtyard between the north and south wings a circulation route from parnell street directly to grangegorman. this would complete an almost straight path from the millenium bridge right through the ilac and onto the new campus which would be energised and activated to the point of ridding itself of the dead and lacklustre atmosphere that permeates the area at the moment.
the argument over the existing flats will of course rage on forever in the minds of delinquent architecty types but they must be adressed as part of our existing urban fabric. it might shock some people to know that by and large the occupants are content and rightly so. its not easy to find comfortable and affordable accommodation within walking distance of the city centre. has anyone tried to rent a two bed flat anywhere in dublin 1 recently?
as for broadstone, it does figure in the plans for the metro and future luas expansion. somewhere in cie is a little map and a timescale that we probably wont hear about in detail for a while.
Evening Herald
A NEW generation of Dubliners may soon see the reopening of one of the city’s oldest railway stations.
The Broadstone station, which has been closed for over 40 years, is set for a revival under ambitious plans from larnrod Eireann.
The move could see the beautiful station reopen its doors within the next eight years, according to a spokesperson for larnrod Eireann.
“We are in the process of planning at the moment for future development. We have such huge growth at the minute that we need all the city centre capacity that is possible,” Barry Kenny told the Evening Herald. Mr Kenny added that the railway tracks servicing the line were “largely” still intact but added that a lot of work would have to be done.
The reopening of Broadstone station would also tie in well with the plans for the new Navan line which is due to open in 2015.
Mr Kenny said he expected to see the opening of the station in the ‘medium-term future’ and suggested that it could be completed within the next five to eight years.
Broadstone is one of the city’s oldest rail stations and the old building has won much praise for its architectural style.
It was described as the most monumental of the four main railway termini in Dublin.
However, passenger services at the station were withdrawn in 1937 and it was turned into a maintenance depot.
The station was closed up completely in 1961 when steam locomotives ended.
Now the historical building acts as a bus depot for Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann and its forecourt is a surface carpark.
For years now the building is better known for its grand appearance than it’s history as a railway station. Sited on a hill, its most dramatic feature is its railway shed with huge columns. The station was designed in a neo-Egyptian style and constructed of granite.
In the past there have been calls to turn the building into a transport museum. However, the owners of the building have been criticised by a top architectural website for allowing it to fall into such disrepair.
The news about Broadstone comes a week after the opening of the new EUR10m railway station in Adamstown, west Dublin.
the owners of the building have been criticised by a top architectural website for allowing it to fall into such disrepair.
I wonder which website? 🙂 Surely not little old us…?
I paid the building a visit recently for the first time, up close at any rate, and it was a thoroughly depressing experience. Not depressing in a frustrated / angry way, more in a saddened / melancholy way – such a pity to see such a fine building standing so forlorn and forgotten in this neglected corner of the city.
Please, Iarnrod Eireann, keep your word on this.
strange one from IE, never a word from them about re-opening Broadstone until now …
nice one from an architectural point of view, any interior pics ?
would you consider it the ‘most monumental’ of dublin’s main rail terminii ?
Yeah, I would… indeed wrote it up as so
http://ireland.archiseek.com/buildings_ireland/dublin/northcity/constitution_hill/broadstone.htmlah now i see where the herald got that from 🙂
Nice view here … (from techpress.ie)
Eh how in the name of jaysus does this tie in with the Navan rail project. ffs, the alignment runs from Docklands along the canal does it not? Are we to have a spur to Broadstone? will that be worth it. And I note no mention of LUAS Line BX/D to extend to Grangegorman and possibly Finglas. Surely that’s a priority and could easily just run along the old rail alignment through phibsboro to Liffey Junction, as per Transport 21. Do these IE people know about that? seemingly not.
Saying “we need all the city centre capacity we can get” is all well and good, but surely co-ordination and maximising accessibility for the most people is more important. For T21 to be implemented as proposed, Broadstone will be needed for LUAS as it stands between O’Connell St. and Grangegorman / Liffey Junction.
I just don’t see the role for Heavy Rail at Broadstone, under any strategy, T21 or DTO? Are IE just gonna fuck off and do their own thing. Every day the need for a DTA grows greater, and every day fathead Cullen is dickin’ about with it. Bring on the canvassers boyos!
oh yeh, by the way, I was going past it the other day. One of Dublin’s finest buildings. A Railway Museum perhaps?
Trying to summarise the pros and cons
Pros
- It would bring a boost to an area of Dublin that needs it
- Extra capacity for terminating trains in Dublin City Centre
Cons
- It could undermine the case for the interconnector
- It would use an alignment that should be used by LUAS (Is this Irish Rail’s intention?)
- It doesn’t integrate well with public transport
- It’s quite a stretch from Dublin City Centre
Any to add to that?
I don’t believe that it is a “stretch” from the city centre. Sure Henrietta Street is across a road, behind Kings Inns. It’s an area that will see investment in the next few years, one would imagine, and a major rail terminus with all the ancillary connections and services that should imply would do no harm.
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