A ‘GHOST STATION’ on the Dublin to Cork line will lie idle unless Irish Rail is given €2 million to open it – but a review of the station is due this year.
The National Transport Authority confirmed to TheJournal.ie that a review of the station is due this year.
“Following the opening of the Phoenix Park Tunnel, the NTA plans to undertake a review regarding the opening of Kishoge Station.
“The review will be undertaken this year, once service and usage patterns have bedded down and the NTA is able to assess the impact of the opening of the Tunnel on rail services on the Kildare line.”
The Kishogue station lies between Clondalkin/Fonthill and Adamstown stations and was built in 2008 to serve a planned 1,000 homes in the Clonburris area. However, much of that development hasn’t happened so the NTA hasn’t deemed the project worth opening.
That means that it has remained unopened, but locals are keen to see it utilised. While 2,000 homes are planned for the area in the medium-term, the station is mentioned in the NTA’s Greater Dublin Area Plan for 2016-2035 as part of the service for south-west Dublin. It does not, however, mention when the station would be opened.
Local councillor William Lavelle says that Transport Minister Shane Ross needs to step in.
“Lucan is crippled by traffic congestion. It is therefore incredible, indeed scandalous, to think that this station, which is widely reported to have cost €6.35 million to build, continues to lie idle for nearly seven years, despite being located within a short walking distance of multiple Lucan housing estates.
“Kishogue is the last ‘ghost station’ left unopened in Dublin.”
Lavelle was angered that the station wasn’t opened at the same time as the Phoenix Park tunnel, which would have given locals access to both sides of Dublin city by rail.
Both Irish Rail and the National Transport Authority have claimed that funding is necessary for works to complete an access road and car-park, which Lavelle says would be the “most expensive tarmac job in history”.
Irish Rail says that the station will remain closed unless it gets €2 million from the NTA.
“The station was not opened at the time of construction, as expected development adjacent to the station – including the access road – had not materialised, and this situation remains unchanged.
“The station requires in the region of €2 million of capital expenditure to complete a car park, access road and other works to allow the station to open. Decisions on future capital programme will be made by the National Transport Authority, in the context of the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy.”
The spokesperson added that there are no specific monthly costs for maintaining the site, but that it is checked every quarter to ensure lifts and fire detection systems are operational.
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