Poolbeg Luas gets initial approval, with a dramatically accelerated timeline. Essentially it's moved from something that was post 2042 to being worked on now.
Great news, but once again makes a complete mockery of the NDP.
All of our post financial crash NDPs have been a mockery, just usually the opposite way around where there're lots of shiny plans and promises that miss every target date and end up rehashed with a new timeline in the next iteration.
It's at least positive to see the opposite happening this time around
It's unforgivable that they ignored the plans for a Luas to Poolbeg while simultaneously planning for thousands of apartments on the IGB site. They can't even claim that a private developer ran rogue on that one, it was tendered by a state body in a process that took nearly a decade. They can't even claim that it's a complicated project that would compete with the Metro for resources.
Look at this crap from the Fine Gael website:
"In 2021, the NTA considered the Luas to Poolbeg a long-term project that would not be examined until after 2042, based on demand projections at that time. That position has now changed significantly."
The NTA have done some great work but clown decisions like this undermines all that.
Might be connected with the NTA going ahead with the CPO’s for the Ringsend BusConnects CBC and the port authorities plans for around the area. New public transport bridge, etc. It would make sense for them all to work together on these plans for the area.
What is the new timeline? The DTP had it there by 2042- the last Luas plans around 2035.
So what happened to DART+ SW and Luas Finglas?
The decision making is a farce
Luas Finglas is stuck in JR, once it clears that I’m certain it will be next up for tendering and construction. Poolbeg isn’t even in the early prelim design phase yet, I’m certain it will still be a few years behind Luas Finglas, maybe behind Lucan Luas too. BTW this isn’t new news Irish Cycle has an article a few months ago that indicated this was happening:
https://irishcycle.com/2025/07/02/barriers-to-accelerating-luas-rollout-are-at-nta-govt-and-planning-levels-project-team/
It outlines that, according to responses from the NTA, the project starting the planning of the Luas Poolbeg should start in “late 2025”
Having said that I suspect it will be a post 2030 project before it actually starts construction. Just think at how long it will take to get through design, public consultation, railway order, JR. Good to start the process now.
And according to Irish Cycles article, it maybe not the only one, you should read the above article, but they say that if given enough money, in 2026, Lucan goes to route selection and Poolbeg and another unspecified Luas line (probably the N11 one) will have “Project Commencement”, along with a bunch of other Luas projects including fleet renewal.
BTW I don’t believe the TD is correct about the following:
In 2021, the NTA considered the Luas to Poolbeg a long-term project that would not be examined until after 2042
Poolbeg is part of the GDA Transport Strategy 2022 to 2042, that certainly doesn’t mean it is a post 2042 project, in fact it means it could happen any time in that 20 year period, just like Finglas Luas, Metrolink and DART+ are all happening around now despite being in the same report! The goal is to have all these projects completed before 2042. Potentially well before that.
I suspect given how long design, consultation, RO, JR take, it will land in the 2030 to 2035 NDP update, hopefully closer to 2030 end. I don’t think this is a clown decision by the NTA, more just a misunderstanding of the plans. Poolbeg, Lucan and Cork Luas were likely always targeted for the 2030’s and probably closer to the start of it.
This is what the GDA document says
Analysis undertaken on the Transport Strategy indicates that this demand may be catered for by bus, cycling and walking up to 2042, however, depending on the scale and phasing of development, it may be necessary to consider delivering Luas to this area during the later periods of the Transport Strategy.
And on page 236 it shows it as planned for the 2037-42 period, so it's definitely a change in priorities.
https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Greater-Dublin-Area-Transport-Strategy-2022-42-1.pdf
I wonder how this impacts the proposed bridge soup down at the dodder/liffey confluence
Ah, I had missed that. Though it does seem to be quite out of date now, for instance it says Metrolink is for 2031 to 2037, which obviously has been brought forward and prioritised now. DART extensions has also been brought way forward from the long term section to basically somewhat happening now (Kilcock and Wicklow, not Naas). It also has Luas Bray in the 31 to 37 category, which seems unlikely now given the lack of upgrading the Green line to Metro. I suspect Luas Poolbeg has basically swapped places with it. Push Bray into the long term section, bring forward Poolbeg and also work on the N11 corridor Luas line which isn’t mentioned there, but would be needed if you want to do Bray.
I think it is fair enough, it is 6 years on from this report and things have changed since then.
Though I do find the bit about additional core bus corridors and the possibility of 24m BRT bendy buses interesting!
The NTA should be doing 7.5km of new Luas line a year by 2029 imo (view if like Bus Connects), that should be the target. If that means 2 going at the same time that should be prioritised. This was posted previously - Cork ahead of Lucan here and I reckon Poolbeg jumping Lucan too. They could move lot of the Finglas construction team to Poolbeg quickly you’d think along with doing Cork from 2030 or something. Then onto Lucan in 2032 (as Finglas completely and Poolbeg winds down) and then the N11.
I wish the funding was more in the order of €300m per annum and allow the NTA to do with that what they want to get track rolled out quickly and efficiently, although that doesn’t tie to our planning or procurement rules. You’d think that city centre related works could be done a lot more efficiently as well if you tied it into Bus Connects as well.
How is it outdated for Metrolink to show delivery between 2031 & 2037?
If it is up and running by 2037 that would be a miracle.
It isn’t clear, but I don’t believe that graph is showing delivery dates, if it is then it doesn’t make any sense at all. I believe it is supposed to be showing the dates of major construction underway. Very out of date now.
Scrap that, the page above seems to indicate it is delivery dates alright. Still out of whack now. DART+ is very unlikely to be fully delivered by 2030, same with all the BusConnects corridors. DART Extension brought forward too. I suspect that the NTA is seeing how BusConnects is going, with passenger numbers growing much quicker then originally thought and they perhaps now realise they are going to reach the limits of the bus network sooner then expected and need to push forward with Luas projects faster. Which IMO is very good news.
I think they also want to avoid the mistakes of the past where Luas was stop-start and be more like the motorway network where they moved from one to the other as they were completed.
Luas Finglas being accelerated therefore means the others have to be moved up too.
Yeah i think it is delivery dates.
2037 is very optimistic for Metrolink but not impossible. I think 2040ish is more realistic.
I dont see any major projects delivered by 2030, including any of the DART or Luas projects. New trains on the DART tracks but thats about it by 2030.
5 years + of nothing outside of buses being delivered is going to see very real problems in Dublins PT network.
That would be extremely positive if that is the case. A crew of Luas builders should be kept busy indefinitely, be it in Dublin or the provincial cities.
Metrolink will be up and running by about 2033 or 34 at this rate. DART+ West will be a little sooner maybe 2031 or 32. All in all Dublin will be transformed utterly by 2035 in terms of transport. If we could keep that pace up and roll out more luas, bus priority and a second metro line we could have the best PT in Europe by 2040, a dramatic 15 yrar transformation from bottom of the league to the top like we did with the motorway network
The reality is that not a single thing is in construction or any way close to it right now…so there's that
I've created a new thread for Luas Poolbeg seeing as it's progressing now (apparently at pace).
yes or they’re rehashed or reheated into a “ “new”strategy of buzzwords. These never ending “plans” tbh drive me fcukin nuts.
In any proper workplace or business you don’t rush into more plans without having successfully completed the aims of the last one (or in the Irish governments case, the last half dozen). I’m a total cynic of them now having following them for 2 decades since I left school- the only real productive period I experienced was the 00s to 10 under FF who for all their flaws actually delivered tangible improvements
Indeed- there’s the cold hard reality of nothing being built and there’s the glossy fake imaginary world of PR videos and media posts created by the FFG regime
Is there a likely route for the Poolbeg Luas proposed or is it all still speculation?
I don't think so yet. The purpose of Project Commencement would be to create a project team, bring in engineers and have them study the route and come up with route options and probably a preferred route.
Not that there are all that many possible options for this route!
I was looking at the various plans for this area yesterday and it feels like a lot of bridges from different projects!
There was previously a map shown of a possible route by the Dublin Commuter group back in 2021, but I don't think it makes sense now given the above bridges and schemes.
In a perfect world it would have been in place before the glass bottle site had started.
While I welcome any and all Luas construction, I conceptually find it difficult to grasp why everything is extensions to already extremely long lines instead of trying to build out a network.
I'm not a regular user of the red Luas line, but I assume that the extension of it eastwards would make more efficient use of the capacity. There would likely be a large number of people travelling from the Glass Bottle site to the IFSC area which otherwise would have limited numbers getting on in the morning travelling westwards. Happy to be told I'm wrong if there is more concrete data there.
Poolbeg is fairly non controversial I’d have thought. I know some complain about capacity but the vast majority will just use it as far as O’Connell Street when coming from that direction. The biggest issue imo is the Middle Abbey Street stops and the design flaws there.
Where do people come up with these timelines? I understand people are cynical but 2040 for MetroLink ffs. If the Government have been trying to dampen expectations before “over delivering” then it’s been very successful with these sorts of made up timelines.
All these flashy brochures and announcements but the bottom line is I don't see much construction around and you know these projects are getting culled at the first sign of economic trouble.
