Dublin's Luas link gets green light

Construction of Dublin’s €370 million cross-city Luas line will begin in May 2013 after it received approval from the cabinet on 27 November and was granted planning permission earlier this year.

Ireland's transport minister Leo Varadkar said the "BXD Line" will connect the existing red and green tram lines and would give the capital “an integrated commuter rail network for the first time”.

The line will run from St Stephen’s Green – where it will connect with the south Dublin green line – down Dawson St and Nassau St, through College Green, Westmoreland St and O’Connell St. Here it will connect with the Luas red line – which runs from west Dublin to the O2 via Connolly Station – on nearby Abbey St.

The BXD line will serve the new Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) campus at Grangegorman and terminate at the Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) station at Broombridge in the northern suburb of Cabra.

Varadkar said the pre-construction works will begin in May with the main construction beginning in 2015 and a scheduled completion date of 2017.

Major traffic disruption can be expected on St Stephen’s Green and surrounding streets in the heart of the city centre once the work begins although the department of transport said that every effort will be made to minimise the negative impact of construction works.