DAY THREE - SEPTEMBER

Years ago I had to visit Broombridge on a regular basis and I found my visits to be less than pleasant.


Broombridge is a railway station beside a LUAS Tram terminus stop. It lies on the southern bank of the Royal Canal at the western end of what had been Liffey Junction station on the erstwhile Midland Great Western Railway. It takes its name from Broome Bridge, which crosses the canal, a place best known as where William Rowan Hamilton discovered the mathematical notion of quaternions. A plaque on the adjacent canal bridge and the naming of the LUAS Maintenance depot on site, Hamilton Depot, commemorates this.

The railway station was opened on 2 July 1990 with two "accessible" platforms. When I last visited the station it was bleak and signs of serious anti-social behaviour were evident also the station was physically separated from the nearby tram stop.

I am pleased to report that the station and the tram stop are now integrated and the station is less depressing but there are few facility and there is a total lack of electronic timetables so it is impossible to determine when the next train is likely to arrive or depart.