FUTURES MAP

Key to map

Light Blue: Metro planned

Pink : DART planned

Light Purple : Luas planned

Orange: New commuter heavy rail

DART LINES

The town of Kilcock has been growing rapidly in recent years, with nearly 10,000 people as of the early 2020s. It is the last large town heading west of Dublin as Enfield and Kinnegad are on a far smaller scale. The DART depot for electric services is due to be provided between Maynooth and Kilcock, so the electrification may as well be extended that little bit further to serve the latter town.

The commuter belt heading out of Dublin towards Limerick and Cork has been relentlessly expanding over the decades, with Naas and Newbridge now well over the 20,000 population mark. It was previously policy to expand the DART as far as Naas, but the current DART+ Southwest programme only covers as far as Hazelhatch outside Celbridge. The distance out to Newbridge is considerable but serves a large population.

The growth of the Wicklow commuter belt continues apace, despite environmental concerns in this scenic and mountainous landscape. Although much of this is happening in Greystones, already served by DART, previous DART expansion plans foresaw this being extended south to Wicklow. The single track alignment south of Bray is a major contraint and passing loops would be needed at a minimum. Rathnew is big enough and close enough to the line to warrant its own station, and Newcastle could do with being served as well as Kilcoole.

METRO LINES

This extension of the Swords-Charlemont metro line would be created by fulfilling the long standing ambition that Luas Green Line from Charlemont-Sandyford be converted from its current high quality light rail alignment to a fully driverless metro, running seamlessly into the northern half of the line. Services would then run all the way from Swords-Sandyford, hopefully with a journey time of only around 50 minutes. This project is actually planned for the 2030s or 2040s, so watch this space.

LUAS LINES

This realignment is closely tied with the Green Line Charlemont-Sandyford upgrade to Metro. This Luas would branch off the existing Green Line at Harcourt heading east then south to Donnybrook. It would serve the major destination of UCD University College Dublin and eventually arrive at Sandyford before rejoining the existing Luas and continuing to Cherrywood. The intention is to reach the following endpoints:
Metro from Swords-Charlemont-Sandyford
Luas Green Line from Finglas-Harcourty-UCD-Sandyford-Cherrywood and Harcourt-Beechwood

To serve Tallaght from a different direction, another Luas would be built by extending west from Harcourt to Rathmines and Rathgar then down to Terenure near Rathfarnham. From there it would pass Templeogue and onwards to Tallaght village before terminating at the end of the Luas Red Line.

Arguably the easiest new Luas to build, this one would be built along the mostly dual carriageway alignment of the Malahide Road. At the northern end it would veer east to terminate at Clongriffin DART station. To the south it would turn onto Fairview Road then North Strand Road and Amiens Street before stopping off at Connolly Station. From here, it would interline with the Red Line under the DART bridge before heading across the Liffey beside the Loop Line railway bridge. A straight run down Tara St and around the corner eastbound along Pearse St would see a stopoff at Pearse DART station before striking further east down onto Ringsend Road. Tight squeeze over Ringsend bridge and south down through the village would see it reach Irishtown before turning onto Sean Moore Road and ending at the new Glass Bottle residential development.

This line will also start at Clongriffin, but heading further west to Clarehall then to Clonshaugh. Winding its way down Clonshaugh Road, it would take a circuitous route through Beaumont Hospital grounds in order to serve this large hospital campus before making its way out to the main road at Whitehall. From here it's a straight run through Drumcondra to Dorset and Bolton Streets. Turning onto Church Street, it would cross the Liffey and head up the steep hill before turning south onto Patrick St. From there it's straight all the way down to Harold's Cross and heading southwest at the fork along Kimmage Road. At the Terenure Rd/Kimmage Rd/Fortfield Rd crossroads, it heads west to the Walkinstown Roundabout. It turns onto Greenhills Road becoming Calmount Road before using a high level bridge to turn onto the Luas Red Line on the far side of the M50. Here it interlines with that line up to the Red Cow before branching off up Monastery Road and coming to an end in Main St, Clondalkin.