Over 600 commuters have signed an on-line petition calling for Irish Rail to put commuter trains on the existing Dublin to Navan railway line that passes through Drogheda.
The Meath On Track campaign claims that two express trains daily would take 1,500 commuters off the rush-hour gridlocked roads linking Meath to the capital.
The rail line is currently used for freight, but campaign spokesman Proinsias MacFhearghusa says upgrading it to take commuter trains should be given priority, as should reopening the train line from Dublin to Kells via Navan, Ratoath and Dunshaughlin.
Irish Rail has confirmed it plans to open a station at Dunboyne, Co Meath, with a park-and-ride facility at nearby Pacetown, but Mr MacFhearghusa says this is not suitable for many commuters.
"The big problem with the Dunboyne extension is that it isn't a rail solution for Meath. It will go as far as the Dublin-Meath border where it stops, and when the M3 opens most of us living in Meath will have to pay two motorway tolls each way to get to Dunboyne as well as park-and-ride charges, and that is before we even pay for our rail tickets.
"Thousands of people left Dublin and bought homes in Meath believing that the railway lines would reopen. Now they do not have the quality of life they expected, and their children are suffering because their parents cannot find work near their homes."
Among those who have signed the petition is Martin Reilly, who leaves his home between Navan and Kells at 6.15am to get to work on the East Wall Road for 7.45am.
He has three children aged between two and 14, and says he is missing quality time with them .
He says the same journey took 50 minutes five years ago, and he believes the congestion on the roads "is getting worse every day. "
A spokesman for Irish Rail said the Drogheda to Navan line would cost €100 million to upgrade to allow it take commuter trains, and to do this would only add to the existing pressure from the growing numbers using the Drogheda to Dublin service.
With the plans to develop the line from Dunboyne to Clonsilla and into Dublin, he said it would be almost "irresponsible" to upgrade the Drogheda to Navan line.
The company also plans to open a docklands station to take the extra capacity that the Dunboyne station will create.