Iarnród Éireann is to reopen Broadstone station in Dublin to passenger traffic some 70 years after services to the north inner-city station ceased.
The company said new tracks will be laid between Broadstone and Liffey Junction, a distance of 2.5km, where the route will connect with the Maynooth line.
Iarnród Éireann said the line could be open by 2010 in tandem with the reopening of the Clonsilla-Dunboyne phase of the Navan rail line.
Commuter services using the station will originate in Kildare, Maynooth and on the Northern Line.
The company also sees the station facilitating the development of services from Athlone, via Mullingar to Broadstone. Currently trains from Athlone serve Heuston Station via Portarlington, Co Laois.
The work will also involve new electronic signalling and the building of new ticket offices and passenger facilities. The total cost of the project is estimated at €35 million.
It is planned that Bus Éireann - which has its headquarters in the original, listed station buildings - will remain in place.
The decision to reopen Broadstone as a passenger terminus follows growth of up to 20 per cent in passenger numbers on some Dublin routes over the last year. It also follows the opening of the new Docklands Station, which is already catering for 1,000 commuters at morning peak times.
The reopening is expected to cater for up to 5,000 commuters per hour in each direction on the basis of a 15-minute frequency of commuter trains.
Iarnród Éireann notes Broadstone would have a wide catchment area in the city itself and points out that a Luas line is to be extended to the station by 2012.
