Beechwood Luas stop

The Harcourt Street railway line was built by the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway and opened in 1854, running from a temporary terminus at Harcourt Road near the city centre to Bray. Rathmines and Ranelagh was added as an infill station in 1896. The station was located on an embankment to the south of Dunville Avenue. There were station buildings on both platforms, which were accessed via a subway under the tracks with white tiles lining the walls.

The station's name was shortened to Ranelagh in 1921, and the timber platforms were replaced with concrete ones in 1943.[2]

The Harcourt Street line had declined in use throughout the early 20th centaury and was closed by CIÉ at the end of 1958. The tracks were lifted soon after and all stations on the route were auctioned off. In the years that followed, the buildings and platforms at Ranelagh were demolished.

The northbound platform in 2004, before the retail unit had been let

Construction of the first phase of the Luas system commenced in 2001 and concluded in 2004. The route chosen for the Green Line re-used the old Harcourt Street alignment between Charlemont and Stillorgan. The stop which was built on the site of the old Ranelagh station is called Beechwood (a separate stop called Ranelagh was built around 500m up the line). During the construction of the Luas line, the level of the track bed was lowered by several metres and the remains of the subway were demolished. The Luas line now crosses Dunville Avenue at-grade.

The stop was built with two side platforms, which have the furniture common to all Luas stops. The only entrance is from Dunville Avenue. In the place of a former ticket office, a small building was built and used as a retail unit. Currently used as a coffee shop, it opens directly onto the northbound platform and most of its trade comes from passengers awaiting their tram.

In 2018, the platforms were lengthened from 45 to 55 metres. This was to accommodate the new longer trams introduced to boost capacity.[3]