The station opened on 28 August 1858, replacing a temporary station further east, which had operated from 9 May 1848. It was built by the
Waterford and Limerick Railway (W&LR), which ran its first train, as far as Tipperary, on Tuesday, 9 May 1848, with intermediate stations at Killonan,
Pallasgreen and
Oola (all since closed). Two months later the
GS&WR connected their Dublin–Cork line with the W&LR at
Limerick Junction, near
Tipperary. The work was carried out at the height of the
Great Famine, resulting in extreme financial difficulties for the company. Originally named "Limerick", the station was given the name Colbert on 10 April 1966 in commemoration of
Cornelius Colbert, one of the executed leaders of the
Easter Rising of 1916. Other former routes from Limerick station included: • a direct route to Cork via Patrickswell and Charleville (on the Dublin-Cork line) built by the Cork & Limerick Direct Railway • the "North Kerry" line to Foynes, Newcastle West, Listowel and Tralee built in stages by three different companies in the mid to late 19th century • a siding from Limerick Check to Castlemungret cement factory. The direct line to Cork between Patrickswell and Charleville and the North Kerry line between Ballingrane and Tralee were dismantled in the [late 1960s - to be confirmed] and in the late 1980s respectively. A single-track remains in place between Limerick Check and Foynes, although disconnected from the network. In 2022 work began to reopen the
line to Foynes as a freight railway, with work scheduled to be completed in 2024. Parts of the video for the
Westlife song "
My Love" were filmed at Colbert Station. == Redevelopment ==