Kent Station is an
Iarnród ÉireannIarnród Éireann is the national railway system operator of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann . It operates all internal intercity, commuter and freight railway services in the Republic of Ireland, and, jointly with Northern Ireland Railways, the...
train station in
CorkCork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster...
, Ireland. Originally opened in 1893, the station operates as a hub for Intercity services to
DublinDublin Heuston, commonly called Heuston station , is one of Ireland's main railway stations, serving the south, southwest and west. It is operated by Iarnród Éireann , the national railway operator...
, and
commuter servicesThe Cork Suburban Rail network serves the Metropolitan Cork area in County Cork, Munster, Ireland.There has been a suburban rail system in Cork since the middle of the 19th century however it suffered serious decline and line closures in the 20th century...
to
MallowMallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Ireland...
,
CobhCobh is a sheltered seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland with a population of around 13,000 inhabitants....
and
MidletonMidleton , historically known as Ballymacora, is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies some 22 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare...
.
The station was originally called
Glanmire Road Station, but was renamed for
Thomas KentThomas Kent was an Irish nationalist executed following a gunfight with the Royal Irish Constabulary on 22 April 1916.-The Easter Rising:...
in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the
Easter RisingThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
.
The station opened on 2 February 1893 and the current building was built in the same year.
Kent Station is an
Iarnród ÉireannIarnród Éireann is the national railway system operator of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann . It operates all internal intercity, commuter and freight railway services in the Republic of Ireland, and, jointly with Northern Ireland Railways, the...
train station in
CorkCork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster...
, Ireland. Originally opened in 1893, the station operates as a hub for Intercity services to
DublinDublin Heuston, commonly called Heuston station , is one of Ireland's main railway stations, serving the south, southwest and west. It is operated by Iarnród Éireann , the national railway operator...
, and
commuter servicesThe Cork Suburban Rail network serves the Metropolitan Cork area in County Cork, Munster, Ireland.There has been a suburban rail system in Cork since the middle of the 19th century however it suffered serious decline and line closures in the 20th century...
to
MallowMallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Ireland...
,
CobhCobh is a sheltered seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland with a population of around 13,000 inhabitants....
and
MidletonMidleton , historically known as Ballymacora, is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies some 22 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare...
.
Name
The station was originally called
Glanmire Road Station, but was renamed for
Thomas KentThomas Kent was an Irish nationalist executed following a gunfight with the Royal Irish Constabulary on 22 April 1916.-The Easter Rising:...
in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the
Easter RisingThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
.
History
The station opened on 2 February 1893 and the current building was built in the same year. The station replaced two earlier stations that served as separate termini for the
Great Southern and Western RailwayThe Great Southern and Western Railway was one of the main railway operations in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
(GS&WR) and Youghal Railway. The original GS&WR station for the Glanmire line was located directly in front of the portal of the tunnel through which the railway into Cork passed. And the original Youghal Railway terminus was above the tunnel portal.
The purpose of the new station was to allow through running of trains, following the 1865 takeover of the Cork and Youghal Railway by the
Great Southern and Western RailwayThe Great Southern and Western Railway was one of the main railway operations in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
. The station is the only one of the 6
Cork railway stations- Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway :The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway didn't start from Cork. Instead in 1851 they opened the first section between Bandon and Ballinhassig in December 1851. After financial problems, they reached Cork Albert Quay 25 years later, after completion of the...
that exists today.
The station served as a filming location for the 1979 movie
The First Great Train RobberyThe First Great Train Robbery is a 1979 film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his novel The Great Train Robbery. In the U.S., the film was also known as The Great Train Robbery...
starring
Sean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , best known as Sean Connery, is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award winning Scottish actor and producer....
,
Donald SutherlandDonald McNicol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian character actor with a film career spanning over 50 years. He is currently working in the American television series, Dirty Sexy Money. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in...
and
Lesley-Anne DownLesley-Anne Down in Wandsworth, London, England, is a British actress who is best known for her roles as Georgina Worsley in the ITV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs, Olivia Blake in the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach and Madeline Fabray LaMotte Main in North and South.Since March 2003 she has...
.
Services
The station offers direct intercity rail services to Heuston Station and stations in
KerryCounty Kerry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. Kerry is the fifth largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 14th largest in terms of population...
.
Cork Suburban RailThe Cork Suburban Rail network serves the Metropolitan Cork area in County Cork, Munster, Ireland.There has been a suburban rail system in Cork since the middle of the 19th century however it suffered serious decline and line closures in the 20th century...
services follow the
CobhCobh is a sheltered seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland with a population of around 13,000 inhabitants....
and
MallowMallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Ireland...
lines. A new commuter line also operates to
MidletonMidleton , historically known as Ballymacora, is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies some 22 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare...
.
The station has three terminating platforms 1-3 (in the Cobh direction) and two through platforms 4 and 5. Since December 2005's timetable change, the through platforms tend to get quite congested as commuter trains often come in together, clogging up limited space. There is also a loop line behind platform 5, which used to be used to facilitate moving
locomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s from the end of arriving trains to the other end in preparation for departure. It is no longer necessary since all services to the station are operated either by railcars or by Mark 4 sets with a
driving van trailerA Driving Van Trailer , sometimes referred to as Driving Luggage Van , is a purpose-built railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate a locomotive at the opposite end of a train. Trains operating with a DVT therefore do not require the locomotive to run round to the other end of the train at...
. The only platform not directly accessible from the station concourse, platform 5, is accessed through a subway, unlike most other Irish stations, which use footbridges.
The two station car parks are chronically undersized, and not restricted to rail travellers. Because they offer a flat rate of
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
5 per day, they are attractive to commuters and as a result it is very hard to secure a space after about 08:00.
Engine No. 36
An old locomotive is on permanent display in the concourse at Kent Station since 1950. "Engine No. 36" dates from 1847 and is displayed in the booking hall. Originally built by
Bury, Curtis, and KennedyBury, Curtis, and Kennedy was a steam locomotive manufacturer in Liverpool, England.Edward Bury set up his works in 1826, under the name of Edward Bury and Company. He employed James Kennedy, who had gained experience of locomotive production under Robert Stephenson and Mather, Dixon & Co, to be...
of Liverpool at a cost of £1,955, the engine was obtained by the
Great Southern and Western RailwayThe Great Southern and Western Railway was one of the main railway operations in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
to run services from Dublin to Cork. The engine remained in service until 1874.
She was displayed at the Cork exhibition in 1902, the Railway Centenary Exhibition in 1925 and the bi-centenary of the
Royal Dublin SocietyThe Royal Dublin Society was founded on 25 June 1731 to "to promote and develop agriculture, arts, industry, and science in Ireland". The RDS is synonymous with its main premises in Ballsbridge in Dublin...
at Ballsbridge in 1930. She was moved to a new position and restored by
Iarnród ÉireannIarnród Éireann is the national railway system operator of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann . It operates all internal intercity, commuter and freight railway services in the Republic of Ireland, and, jointly with Northern Ireland Railways, the...
in 2007.
External links