Waterford to access the Platform 1 if required. The terminal platform, to the west of Platform 1, is numbered 2 and 3 for parts nearest and furthest from the buffers respectively. This allows two trains to be present at once, typically allowing a Waterford train and Limerick train to be simultaneously present. Access to Platforms 2 and 3 for trains from anywhere other than Limerick requires reversing. A train coming from Waterford must cross the Dublin-Cork main line towards Limerick, reversing along the curve used by trains arriving from Limerick. It can then stop at the Limerick bay. Platform 4, added in 2019, is used by trains from Dublin towards Cork. The platform is accessed by footbridge from platform with lifts to the upper level also provided. A disadvantage with platform 4 is that cross platform interchange of trains is no longer possible. History The station opened on 3 July 1848 as the latest extension of the GS&WR line from Dublin to Cork, connecting to the Waterford and Limerick Railway (W&LR) at the same time which had opened to Tipperary from Limerick some two months previously. The station was owned by the GS&WR, the W&LR paying rent for use. Pre-1967 The original layout was soon altered to the one that was to remain until 1967, requiring all trains to reverse to access the station. Trains from the W&LR would arrive at the station prior to and leave after than those from the GS&WR. It was common for trains to Dublin and Cork to be arranged to across at the same time, with 10 minutes being allowed for the stop, and the locomotives for Dublin and Cork facing each other, four trains being in the station at the same time. The W&LR briefly in 1880 constructed a platform at Keane's points, where its trains left the W&LR line to the GS&WR station, leaving passengers to walk to the GS&WR platform. In 1955 the crossing from the Cork platform to the down line was changed from a diamond crossing to a ladder crossing. The change, made to support a new cement train service, meant that a train coming from Cork could proceed directly to Limerick without reversal. 1967 The 1967 changes were, at least in part, initiated by the closure of the Waterford–Mallow railway line and subsequent diversion of the Rosslare to Cork boat trains to run over Waterford to Limerick line