Naming conventions for train stations and lines

Small complaint but I get the train a lot and it always annoys me that the four main Dublin stations are referred to as their names. For example, the announcements on the train say "Heuston to Cork", and the plaques at the stations just say "Heuston" or "Connolly", while Kent says "Cork Kent". Same with the signs at intermediary stations saying "towards Heuston" and "towards Cork". It's such a minor thing, but I never understand why Dublin is afforded the luxury of it while the other cities and named train stations aren't. One rule for the capital, another rule for us, I guess..

The only argument I think they can make is that Dublin is the only city with multiple train stations in the city boundary. The other cities just have a station each in their respectie city centres. I really hope when the new city stations are added at Blarney, Blackpool, Tivoli and Dunkettle that they drop the Cork before Kent - given all four of those stations are already in Cork. Again, minor thing but.. annoying.

You've answered your own question, there. Dublin is only "special" in that it has three mainline stations, so you need a way to distinguish them, so that's why you hear "Heuston", "Connolly", "Pearse".

If another city had a second mainline station, then the same thing would happen.

I think it's actually a good idea not to use the honorary names at all: mistaking "Ceannt" and "Kent" is something that's easy to do, and very, very annoying to undo once you're on the train.

I guess my issue is more that for Dublin it’s just Heuston and not Dublin Heuston in the stations. Meanwhile for Cork, it’s generally just Cork or Cork Kent. There seems to be an assumption everyone knows Heuston means Dublin and no one knows Kent means Cork. For example, when I got the train to Dublin on Thursday, it said “this is the X hours train to Heuston from Cork stopping at Mallow, Thurles, Portlaoise and Heuston”

I agree with Zebra, Cork Central makes more sense. In that instance, Heuston could be Dublin West, Connolly could be Dublin Central and Pearse could be Dublin East. When Blarney and Blackpool are added, will it say “Heuston to Cork stopping at Mallow, Blarney, Blackpool and Cork”? I understand not having it just as Kent, but then it should be “Dublin Heuston to XYZ and Cork Kent”. I don’t know. Again, minor things. But it just gives me this vibe that Dublin is recognised as a real city and a big capital city, while Cork is this tiny town no more important than Banteer or Templemore

Obviously there are much more important things for Irish Rail to be focusing on..

I would have to say that I disagree strongly here. Not only for the 1916 patriots after which the stations are now named, but naming a station ‘central’ ‘east’ or ‘west’ just feels very boring and is something done in essentially no cities in Europe. It makes far more sense having the stations named after a street or part of the city, or in this case, after a person, is done very commonly in mainland Europe.

However I do agree that all intercity trains should announce their Dublin terminus station as ‘Dublin Heuston’ ‘Dublin Connolly’ or ‘Dublin Pearse’ in common with the rest of the cities around the country and also just to make it easier for tourists getting around.

Finally though I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about announcement discrepancy between the different Cork city stations as the trains from Dublin will only ever stop at Mallow and Kent!

Galway station is named after Éamonn Ceannt.

Cork station is named after Thomas Kent.

but naming a station ‘central’ ‘east’ or ‘west’ just feels very boring and is something done in essentially no cities in Europe.

Brussel-Zuid (Brussels South), Amsterdam Zuid (Amsterdam South), Amsterdam Centraal (Amsterdam Central), Paris Gare du Nord (north station), Gare de l'Est (Station of the East) would all tend to disagree with you there.

Nobody wants character, they want accuracy.

Howth Junction has great character and history. Donaghmede is far more accurate and useful.

DART lines? There’s only one…

Yes.. Munich's three mainline railway stations are "Haupt-", "Ost-" and "Süd-": Main, East and South (the latter is freight only). I don't think anywhere as the whole set of compass points.

This isn't very exciting, but it's actually useful when planning a journey, as the "Main" station will be the one closest to the city centre. No need to get a map, but you do need a little bit of the language (e.g. Prague's main station is clearly named Praha Hlavní Nadrazi "Prague Main Station")

Naming after streets is less useful to visitors, but at least it provides a geographical clue..

We, of course, take the worst option and name after people. (Although Connoly and Pearse are indeed as central to the 1916 Rising as their namesake stations are Dublin city, that is not an efficient way of conveying the information..)

@scrabtom I have the opposite opinion. I really dislike named lines.. they make signage more difficult to design, and make it less clear, and also the names cannot really be used to indicate a hierarchy of service levels (e.g., unlike numbered lines where high-numbered services have lower frequencies).

I have a greater dislike of systems where lines are named "Green", "Silver", "Blue" and so on (yes, I don't like how the Luas lines are named) ... there's only a small number of colours that people agree on (and lets not forget that around 5% of the male population is clinically colour blind), so the name-space is limited from the start. Plus, what additional useful meaning can you convey with colours? Is "Yellow" a higher level of service than "Green"? This is even worse than naming lines after people.

Anyway, this may be a moot point. From the new fleet mockup photos, it seems that DART services will be numbered "D1", "D2", etc.

Are they not called Dart North, Dart South, Dart East and Dart South East?

I know rationally probably it makes more sense to have them named like that but I do just find it a little dull. I love going to London and getting on all the tube lines with random names.

Here are the mockups of the trains showing “D1” and “D2”. This could just be someone at Alstom putting plausible-looking text on the display, or it could be based on a plan IÉ have for line numbers.

“North”, “South” as names wouldn’t work, because those are lines, not services: right now, services already run from Malahide (“North” line) to Bray (on the “South” line). By “service” I mean something that would be drawn as a continuous line on a map: basically what the general public would refer to as a “line”.

I can see at least four distinct services on DART+, or more if you decide to count branches and alternate terminal stations as separate services (as German cities do). But at minimum, the network will have these four, just as a result of replicating Commuter services and using the Phoenix Park Tunnel:

1. M3 Parkway/Maynooth - Connolly/Docklands (this could be two services, or one with two branches either end)
2. Drogheda - Bray, Drogheda - Docklands
3. Hazelhatch - Heuston, Hazelhatch-Heuston West-Docklands
4. Howth - Bray, Howth - Donaghmede (shuttle)

Looking at the links that have been electrified, there’s also potential for four new services to be provided (always remembering that there’s a big difference between “can”, “should” and “will”):

5. Bray - Heuston West - Hazelhatch
6. Bray - Heuston West - M3/Maynooth
7. Drogheda - Connolly - Hazelhatch (calling at Connolly)
8. Drogheda - Connolly - Maynooth/M3 (calling at Connolly)

The lack of a Northern-to-Western curve north of Connolly prevents a direct Drogheda - Hazelhatch or Drogheda - Maynooth, but it could be achieved by calling at Connolly from one set of tracks, and leaving via another.

I suppose symbols are out of the question

Just take Dart North Southbound, when you want to get into town from Malahide and Dart South Northbound to get from Greystones into town but just remember that Dart North Southbound becomes Dart South Southbound on the Loop Line and Dart South Northbound becomes Dart North Northbound on the Loop Line. Couldn't be simpler.

Nitpick: Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est are not so called because they are in the north and east of Paris respectively — in fact, they're pretty much right beside one another, in the 10th arrondissement — but because they are the stations from which you get trains to the north of France and the east of France respectively. If you're on a train travelling to these stations, the names give you no clue as to what part of Paris you will be deposited in; if you're in Paris looking for these stations, the names give no clue as to where you will find them.

The Gare de Lyon is so called because it's where you go if you want to get a train to Lyon. The Gare de Luxembourg is not where you go to get a train to Luxembourg — those trains depart from the Gare de l'Est — but it is beside the Jardin du Luxembourg, a well-known Paris landmark. And the Gare d'Austerlitz does not offer services to Austerlitz, which is in the Czech Republic, but to Bordeaux. Why is it not called the Gare de Bordeaux? God knows.

Tl;dr: Paris rail terminus names are all over the place. Dublin's are a model of consistency by comparison. They are all named after historical figures associated with the 1916 Rising (Pearse, Connolly, Heuston) and for places adjacent to them (Pearse St; Connolly St; Sean Heuston Bridge).

I can't say for definite on signage but I'm sure in places like Thurles it says "towards Dublin and Towards Cork" but any time I get the train the announcement says "Heuston station Dublin" and my ticket says "Dublin Heuston".

Are people talking about it only being called Heuston when you are actually in Dublin ?

I must keep a listen out next time. I was sure they now said Heuston station Dublin.

I suspect it is a bit inconsistent but, as you can hear, in that clip I linked it just says “Heuston Station”.

This recording suggests otherwise. The English announcement says “Pearse Station” but then “Dublin Connolly” which is weirdly inconsistent. And more inconsistent again is that the Irish announcement uses “Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile” (Connolly Station).

https://youtube.com/shorts/iHEdd8C3Lag?feature=shared

Names should have the location - something permanent.

Not like the Luas, where the Blackhorse stop is called after a pub that no longer exists!

I really don't see the need for line numbers on the Dart - the destination tells you where the train is going, it's not like there's a load of alternative routings.

I dont see why they shouldn't be named, as long as both the name and destination are shown. For regular rail users it might not mean much but for newer or occasional users, or especially tourists it would be helpful. Now that assumes the naming system is easy to understand, but I definetly don't think it could hurt the network. Honestly DART SW, W, N, and S, aren't too bad for names, just maybe if they went with that option having a name for services between Malahide/Howth and Bray/Greystones, to seperate them from north and south services terminating at connolly. (at least its my understanding not all services would operate the full length?)

Exactly that.

P = Peak only routes that serve all stops.

X = Express routes.

Been thinking about a few station renamings recently and I just thought id share a few thoughts.

Heuston West could be completely renamed to Islandbridge. My thinking is, it’s much too big a walk away from Heuston Station to provide a reliable passenger transfer, and naming it after the area it’s in could attract more people to the station than otherwise…

Would renaming Castleknock to Blanchardstown have a similar effect on ridership…? It’s only 500m from the Main Street and could arguably be renamed anyway as it is closer to there than it actatlly is to Castleknock.

And finally I never really understood why Kishogue wasn’t called Clonburris ahead of the brand new giant development going in there…