Dublin may get a city-centre underground as well as the planned Luas light rail system following the outcome of a strategic review of suburban rail services in the capital, The Irish Times has learned.
According to sources, the proposed city-centre underground line would link Spencer Dock with Heuston station via Pearse station (Westland Row), St Stephen's Green, Dame Street and the civic offices at Wood Quay.
The £500 million underground project is being examined by international engineering consultants Ove Arup and Partners, who were commissioned by CIE to carry out the strategic rail study.
The underground line would integrate with a proposed heavy rail link to Dublin Airport, branching off from the Sligo line, making it possible for people to get a train to the airport from key locations in the city centre.
The consultants are examining all suburban rail options, including the airport rail link, reopening the line serving Navan and providing extra tracks on the Kildare line as well as a new cross-river rail link, downstream from the loop line.
Until now, consideration of a new cross-river rail link, endorsed by the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area, was confined to linking Spencer Dock with a new DART station planned for Barrow Street, in the Grand Canal Docks area south of the Liffey.
Because this issue is regarded as being of such strategic importance, Dublin Corporation's planning decision in August on the massive development scheme proposed for Spencer Dock, including the National Conference Centre, was predicated on resolving it.
Technically, it would be difficult to link Spencer Dock with Barrow Street, given that the latter is elevated above street level. The option now being examined would involve taking the rail link underground to Pearse Station, Westland Row, where there would be an interchange with the existing DART line, and through the city centre via St Stephen's Green, Dame Street and the south quays.
And because it would continue to Heuston, the underground line would end its relative isolation from the rest of the city's rail-based public transport services. It is also planned to upgrade the line through the Phoenix Park tunnel, linking Heuston and Connolly stations.
Under the scheme now being considered, a city-centre underground would consist of a pair of bored tunnels, requiring minimal disturbance at surface level. Their diameter, at 15 feet, would be marginally more than the Grand Canal drainage tunnel installed in the 1970s.
The scheme is not seen as a substitute for Luas but as a complementary facility. Passengers on the Luas line from Sandyford would be able to change to the underground in St Stephen's Green, and those on the Tallaght line could change at Heuston.
Apart from offering such integration, the installation of a citycentre underground line would obviate any need to put the Sandyford-Ballymun Luas line underground at St Stephen's Green.
