Finglas Luas line back on track

You know what they say about public transport improvements – you wait years for one and then they all come at once.

The much-anticipated Finglas Luas line finally has an opening date; anywhere between 2028 and 2032.

The news was revealed in a tender submitted by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which said that the Luas system is anticipating further expansion in the coming years.

The documentation states that Luas Finglas is the next planned extension of the Luas Green Line.

Under the expanded Green Line, the route will start at Charlestown, before making its way down to Finglas Village, Finglas West, St. Helena’s, Tolka Valley and then join the existing line at Broombridge.

Following that, the classic Green Line route into the city centre will kick in.

Under the design, a new bridge will be built over the Tolka and a new bridge will be built at Broombridge to facilitate the works.

Right now, it takes commuters 44 minutes to travel from Charlestown to Trinity during rush hour traffic, but the new Luas route will cut this to 30 minutes.

Government statistics project that as many as 10,000 cars could be taken off the road if the project is built, and it would result in 5,500 more people using public transport to travel into Dublin city centre.

Broombridge is expected to become a hub of activity over the next decade between the Luas works, expanded services on the M3 Parkway line, and a new bus route that will allow commuters to travel between Broombridge and Heuston Station.

The expansion of the M3 Parkway services will see current services doubled as current plans call for 40km worth of electrification and re-signalling.

The Dart+ West service expects to increase passenger capacity to 160% of what it is now.

The 99 bus route, which currently serves Parkgate Street and the Phoenix Park visitors centre, was also initially supposed to serve Heuston Station and Broombridge but it transpired that the gate on the Cabra side of the route was “too narrow” for buses to pass through.

Statistics revealed that the Luas system carried 48.2 million passengers last year, and TII are now looking to extend their pre-existing contract with the French company Transdev which operates Luas services.

The TII has put a €1.75 billion price tag on the new LUAS operation and maintenance contract as it looks to expand Luas services.

The contract with Transdev is due to expire in November 2025, but the National Transport Authority TII expects the contract to be extended in order to carry out the works.

The Luas works aren’t expected to start in the immediate future; TII states that the deadline for tenders is June 2025 and the contract is to be awarded in November 2025.

After that however, the project is expected to pick up steam.

A spokesperson for Transdev said last month “Transdev looks forward to the launch of the tender process for the new Luas Contract and will assess the proposed new contract once published.”