Plans are being finalised for the long-awaited link-up between the two Luas lines in Dublin city centre.
The Railway Procurement Agency is due to make an application to An Bord Pleanála for the Luas City Centre and Luas Broombridge lines (Line BXD) running from St Stephen's Green to Parnell St.
The Luas link line is planned to run from St Stephen's Green by Trinity College and up O'Connell Street before doubling back down Marlborough Street and across a specially-built new bridge over the River Liffey.
It would connect the Green Line, which terminates at St Stephen's Green, to the Red Line, which runs along Abbey Street, and would also form part of a new line that will connect Luas services with a suburban rail station at Broombridge near Cabra.
However, business leaders in the city are anxious that work on the BXD Line is completed at the same time as work on Metro North, which is due to start in 2012.
It is understood that the RPA wants to build them separately but the Dublin Chamber of Commerce says this would add two years construction and consequent disruption in the city centre.
The RPA advertised its plans in the national press this morning and is due to deliver its Railway Order on 30 June.
The cost is estimated at up to €170m.
