These plans proposed the building of a 12.5-mile (20 km) railway from Bray, which opened on 10 July 1854 to initially terminate at Harcourt Road, before extending closer into the city centre.

[1] By 1857, it was decided to instead build the terminus at Harcourt Street due to the cost of extending past the busy surrounding area.

[1] On 14 February 1900, a train from Enniscorthy failed to stop and went through the buffers and the end wall of the station,[2] [3] sending debris over Hatch Street.

In the 1950s, diesel railcars gradually replaced steam in an effort to improve journey times as many passengers had by then forsaken the line due to a significant increase in private car ownership.

[5]: viii One of the major engineering feats on the line was the Milltown Viaduct, or Nine Arches, which still stands today over the River Dodder.

[citation needed] The route corridor remained mostly in place until the 2000s, largely due to the Dublin Corporation putting a ban on construction on the trackbed in 1972.

The section between Grand Parade and the old Stillorgan station at Sandyford was chosen for use by the Luas light rail system whose Green Line opened in 2004.

[9] Beyond Brennanstown, the route diverges slightly from the old alignment and enters a new tunnel, before ending at the Brides Glen Luas stop in Cherrywood Business Park.

Little trace of Foxrock railway station remains as the building was demolished in 1991, other than the original passenger entrance to Leopardstown Racecourse beside the golf club main gates.