Pearse Roof Project - Dublin 2 - September 2018 to July 2020

Iarnród Éireann – Irish Rail has completed a project to renew and replace the 19th-century roof of Dublin’s Pearse station.

The roof structure, which dated from the 1880s, was in poor condition, and protective mesh netting had been in place in the station below roof level in recent years to protect customers and rail services, due to the corrosion which has occurred.

The €17 million project was funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Pearse station, on Westland Row in Dublin, is Ireland’s second busiest train station and the busiest commuter station on the network. It opened in 1834 and was the original terminus of the first railway line in the country (Westland Row to Kingstown – Pearse to Dun Laoghaire).

The roof structure dates from the 1880s and comprises two main areas. The main station area roof comprises forty barrelled roof trusses, each spanning approximately 28 metres, over thirty-eight bays, with additional gable end structure at both ends.

Adjacent to this main station roof there is a second, similar roof over a station infrastructure area. It is smaller and comprises nineteen trusses over 18 bays. The span of this second roof is approximately 17 metres, with bays also spaced at 4.25m intervals. The roof fabric of this smaller roof is similar to the main running shed.

During the repairs, all of the primary trusses were replaced with new steel trusses, or similar, and the existing roofing materials replaced using new materials chosen to maintain the external appearance and character of the structure.

A crash deck was installed over the main station for the duration of the repairs, and additional steps were taken to separate the work sites from both the operations of the station and from the surrounding high-density area, which includes residential, commercial, educational and amenity areas.