18 Sep 2015
Posted by AA Roadwatch 
As Dublin commuters are well aware, the Luas Cross City Works are in full swing at this stage as the construction of the new line continues.
The €368 million project will see a new 5.6km line linking the Green Line terminus at St Stephen’s Green to the Red Line and then out to the to the Iarnród Éireann Broombridge Station on the Maynooth railway line. There will be 13 new stops with 8 of these in the core city centre area and it will take a grand total of 21 minutes to travel from St. Stephens Green to Cabra. This will result in an additional 10 million passenger journeys per year.
In terms of Broombridge, construction work began during April 2015 and since then, there has been a site clearance of 3 hectares of the old railway cutting which included the removal of trees, shrubs and debris from the site. There has also been the establishment of a new entrance, car park and compound beside Broombridge train station for the construction of the works. Work has also began on the lowering of the existing ground to match the new rail levels, as well as the diversion of existing utility cables and pipework in preparation for the track works.
There has been a lot of work taking place at Fassaugh Road Bridge / Liam Whelan Bridge since October 2014 and it only concluded in July 2015. The first phase of works saw the installation of new foundations and abutments for the new bridge deck. The second phase of the works involved the new deck being constructed adjacent to the existing structure on a temporary supporting structure. Once the new deck was ready the existing deck was removed and the new deck slid into position. The bridge re-opened to traffic on July 26th and the Liam Whelan plaque will be re-instated in the coming weeks.
Between now and when the new stretch of Luas line is scheduled to open at the end of 2017, there is a lot of work to come. This includes the construction of thirteen new Luas stops, a tram depot, operations staff facilities at Broombridge, two new sub-station buildings as well as track installations, testing, tram stabling, overhead wiring and traffic signalling for the Luas Cross City scheme. This is all in addition to all the landscaping, carriageway and footpath works along the line.
Don’t forget you can download the latest Luas Cross City Update Booklet here.
