AN BORD PLEANÁLA has granted a railway order for a new Luas line linking the two existing light rail lines in Dublin.

The 5.6km Luas Broombridge (BxD) line will run from the green line’s St Stephen’s Green stop (and line end) in Dublin city centre to Broombridge via O’Connell Street, where the red line runs.

The new line will also run past the new DIT campus site at Grangegorman, which was also recently granted planning permission. The government announced last month that the campus would be part of the €2bn stimulus package.

Although part of the ‘Transport 21′ programme announced in 2005, the new Luas line is just one of three major transport projects approved in the government’s Capital Investment 2012-16 programme – the other two are the Metro North and the Dart Underground.

In November, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar confirmed that construction is due to begin on the Luas BxD line will begin in 2015, but that the other two projects are being deferred. Construction of the new line is expected to create 800 jobs.

However, construction will not begin on the project until funding has been confirmed.

Responding to the planning approval, Dublin Chamber chief executive Gina Quin said: “Once financing arrangements are made, the Dublin Chamber said it will be ready to work closely with the Railway Procurement Agency and Dublin City Council to ensure that Dublin will remain ‘open for business’ during the period of construction.”