Permission has been granted for a new Luas line in Dublin linking the two current services.

It is expected that the construction of the line will generate 800 jobs at a cost of €370 million.

Services on the new line are planned to commence in 2017.

It will be approximately 6 kilometres in length serving 13 stops.

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) predicts it will offer an end-to-end journey time of 24 minutes and is expected to see an additional 8 million passenger journeys on the Luas each year.

The line – to be called Luas Broombridge – will run from the Green Line terminus at St. Stephen’s Green through the city centre, Phibsborough and Cabra to Broombridge.

It will also directly serve the new DIT Campus at Grangegorman.

Michael Sheedy is Director of Light Rail with the RPA.

“It will form the foundation of a high quality integrated network which will significantly reduce the current high reliance on the private car” he said.

“We will now be working closely with our colleagues in the National Transport Authority and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to progress the delivery of this much needed infrastructure” he added.