Work on the identification of route options for Luas City Centre (Line BX) began well in advance of the decision to develop plans for Luas Broombridge (Line BXD) which would subsume plans for Line BX. Resulting from this, the manner in which route options were identified for Line BX and Line D is more easily understood by considering each line separately in the first instance.
City Centre (Line BX) Section of Line BXD
In January 2005, following the opening of the Luas Red Line and Luas Green Line to passenger services in 2004, RPA undertook an attitudinal survey of Luas passengers and sought opinions on a cross city Luas line and views on possible station locations. The overwhelming response was one of strong support for a cross city Luas line which would link the Luas Green and Luas Red Lines.
RPA then set about the task of identifying possible route options for Luas City Centre (Line BX) with key considerations in mind which included length of route, journey time, trip attractors and generators, likely passenger demand, the operation of the line and environmental issues.
In November 2005 RPA launched a public consultation process focusing on Line BX. The process was promoted and facilitated by a mix of print and radio advertising, newsletter distribution and website communications along with Public Open Days and Displays and meetings with individual interested parties and groups. Members of the public were invited to comment on five possible route options from St. Stephen’s Green to either O’Connell Street or Marlborough Street which and been identified prior to the commencement of the consultation process and were also prompted to come forward with any alternatives or variants which they felt should be considered. Open Days were held in December 2005 and in February 2006.
During the course of the extensive pubic consultation campaign a sixth route option was identified. Following further assessment of the possible alignments, public consultation activities focused on two of these six options and an additional Open-Day centring on these two route options was held at the end of January 2007.
Broombridge (Line D) Section of Line BXD
This first phase in developing Luas Broombridge (Line D), commenced with the identification of feasible route options within a study area from O'Connell Street to Broombridge via Broadstone and Grangegorman.
For the on-street section from the northern end of O’Connell Street to Broadstone, RPA identified two route options; connection options to Luas City Centre (Line BX); and options for crossing of Constitution Hill into Broadstone.
Route Option 1 (from O’Connell St to Broadstone) would run via Parnell Square West on to Granby Row, St. Mary's Place North and Western Way. Route Option 2 would run via Parnell Street on to Dominick Street Lower and Dominick Street Upper.
Two options to connect Luas Broombridge (Line D) with Luas City Centre (Line BX) were identified – a connection at the O’Connell Street Upper / Cathal Brugha Street junction or an alternative of extending the Luas City Centre (Line BX) single line loop to run along the full length of both O’Connell Street and Marlborough St and connecting at the O’Connell Street Upper / Parnell St junction instead.
As this would involve moving the east/west section of the Line BX loop from Cathal Brugha Street to Parnell Street the proposed stop in Cathal Brugha Street would be replaced by either a stop located in Parnell Street, east of O’Connell Street, or in Marlborough Street close to the Cathal Brugha Street Junction.
There were two Crossing Options for the crossing of Constitution Hill required to access Broadstone. Crossing Option 1 involved a bridge over the road whilst Crossing Option 2 involved a 'straight through' crossing at road level similar to existing road junctions along the Luas Red Line and Luas Green Lines. Both of these crossing options are feasible with either Route Option 1 or Route Option 2.
North of Broadstone, Luas Broombridge (Line D) will utilise the disused railway cutting with stop locations, generally in the vicinity of Cabra Road and Fassaugh Road. The termination of Luas Broombridge (Line D) would include an interchange stop adjacent to Iarnrod Éireann’s Maynooth railway line and a depot for the stabling of trams. Provision has been made to enable a possible extension to Finglas at a future date.
Click here to view current phase of this project.