A €10.3 billion plan for the development of transport infrastructure across the greater Dublin area for the next 20 years has been published by the National Transport Authority.

The strategy includes plans to build Luas lines to Bray, Finglas, Lucan and the Poolbeg peninsula, as well as the €2.4 billion Metro North line from Dublin city centre to Dublin Airport and Swords, approved for funding under the Government’s capital plan published last year.

The strategy sets out proposals for improving bus provision, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, as well as the road network, but its central focus is on the expansion of rail.

Finglas extension

To serve the future development area of Poolbeg, on the southern side of the mouth of the Liffey where it enters the sea, as well as nearby Ringsend and Irishtown, it is intended to extend the Luas Red Line – currently running from Saggart in west Dublin to the Point in the north docklands – south of the Liffey. The line would cross the Liffey on a new bridge near the East Link Bridge.

The plan identifies a new east-west Luas line, running from Lucan, which is not served by any rail line, to the city centre.

This would cater for the “high transport demand along this corridor”, the strategy says, serving Lucan, Liffey Valley and Ballyfermot along the route.

To match the new, high- speed rail provision of Metro North, the strategy proposes developing Metro South by upgrading to metro standard the existing Luas Green Line, which currently runs from St Stephen’s Green to Bride’s Glen south of Cherrywood. This would mean extending south to Ranelagh the planned Metro North tunnel under the city, extending Luas station platforms for the longer metro trains which also run faster than the Luas.

From Bride’s Glen, a new spur of the Luas Green Line would be built to extend the line to Bray town centre.

Bray link

“It will provide a high-frequency, high-capacity link between Bray and the key employment areas of Sandyford, Dundrum and Cherrywood, in addition to connecting to the city centre,” the strategy states.

Plans for the Metro South and the Lucan line were in the last Dublin transport strategy published five years ago, but were not progressed.

For bus development, the strategy identifies a core network of 16 radial bus corridors coming from the suburbs into the city; three orbital bus corridors which would run between suburbs, avoiding the city centre; and six regional bus corridors serving the city from places such as Belfast, Donegal and Mayo.