Navan Rail Line

I think Ashbourne and Ratoath need a different, more direct alignment. Bringing the Navan line from where it is now back east to serve Ashbourne just makes the whole route stupidly long, and the average line speed is already not great on this corridor (I hope that the DART+ works will do something to improve this).

My preferred option would have been something like @OisinCooke's, but I do think that this ship has sailed: too much has been put in place for the western path. Also, any stop at Dunshaughlin needs to be located close to the M3 in order to act as a P+R for traffic further up the M3, so running the line east of Dunshaughlin isn’t going to be good for meeting car traffic reduction goals - the current P+R is awfully positioned for M3 users, as it makes them pay a toll just to get to and from the railway station, and I think that’s a lot of the reason for its poor ridership.

In a purely speculative vein, the proposed alignment might also allow for a future spur to Trim (population 9,500) if enough of this 8km branch alignment is still owned by CIÉ:

Looking at the aerial maps, though, I think most of that alignment is now long gone (a part of it just east of the Boyne is now an access road for a group of houses), but Trim is still a good candidate for rail-led development in future, as it has a good core, with scope to grow, but it is currently unattractive for car commuting as it’s not near a motorway.