Broombridge railway station

Station in Dublin, Ireland

Broombridge is a railway station beside a Luas Tram stop serving Cabra, Dublin 7, Ireland. 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 (MGWR). It takes its name from Broome Bridge, which crosses the canal, where William Rowan Hamilton developed the mathematical notion of quaternions. A plaque on the adjacent canal bridge and the name of the Luas Maintenance depot on site, Hamilton Depot, commemorates this. From Broombridge, the tram route takes the old MGWR route to its Broadstone terminus site before continuing to Dublin City Centre. The Broombridge Hamilton LUAS maintenance depot lies to the south of the line on the final part of the approach to the station.

The station is unmanned and had been subject to significant and sustained vandalism, enough for Iarnród Éireann to be concerned and questions asked about it in the Dáil. The lack of shelter for passengers or seating facilities was similarly questioned,. In 2012, additional security measures were added along with seating and decoration in advance of the station's redesign as part of the Luas Cross City project. Leap card validators, previously not provided due to vandalism concerns, have been installed and Iarnród Éireann ticket machines were installed towards the end of 2019.

Broombridge is the northern terminus of the Green Line of the Luas, Dublin's Light rail tram system. The tram platforms were constructed in 2017, at the same time as the nearby Hamilton Depot, the forecourt which provides space for buses to access the station, a staff car park, and a footbridge over the main line tracks to allow easier interchange. The two platforms lie adjacent to the eastern end of the main line platforms, and interchange between the two systems is possible via steps and a ramp. On average, trams depart every 10 to 15 minutes and head south towards Brides Glen, a journey which takes approximately one hour. Immediately after leaving Broombridge, they go through a double crossover point which allows them to make use of both platforms. The line runs parallel to the heavy rail line for 350m, before turning south into the Broadstone railway cutting, which takes it into central Dublin.

In 2020, a extension of the green line from Broombridge to Charlestown Shopping Centre was announced. According to the current plan for the project, Broombridge will become a through stop, and trams will leave the stop before taking a sharp turn to the right, crossing the heavy rail line and the Royal Canal on a specially constructed bridge which will run parallel to Broome Bridge itself, and then continue northwards.

In 1847, when the railway was opened, the MGWR briefly established a station at Reilly's Bridge just over to the west but closed it before the end of the year.