Commuters on the planned orbital Metro West line from Tallaght to south of Dublin airport should be able to use integrated tickets by the time the new line is open in 2014, according to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.
Under plans for the 25 km line, which will be entirely overground and will pass through Clondalkin rather than Lucan, passengers will also be able to travel from Tallaght to Dublin airport in under an hour.
In order to do this, Metro West trains will either switch onto the planned Metro North line at a point shortly before the airport, or passengers will transfer to a Metro North train which will take them to the airport itself.
The new line will avoid the city centre entirely.
Amid continuing criticism of the length of time it has taken to introduce a system of integrated ticketing here, a spokeswoman for Mr Dempsey last night said he was confident this would be up and running when the new line opened in 2014.
Such a system would allow commuters to use the same ticket across a range of public transport options, she added.
The emerging preferred route selected by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) will operate from Tallaght through Clon- dalkin, Liffey Valley, Blanchardstown, the National Aquatic Centre, Huntstown and Harristown. Work is expected to start in 2009. It will have up to 20 stops and is expected to carry about 20 million passengers a year.
In choosing the route, which may be modified further, the RPA rejected a proposal to run the line through Lucan. This is thought to be partly due to the fact that Lucan is due to have access to a Luas link in the future.
Similar in style to the Luas, but with significantly greater capacity, Metro West will run on the surface with trains crossing major traffic junctions via specially built bridges.
The new line will begin at Tallaght East, where the stop will be some 400m from the Luas Red line. However, the RPA will consider moving the Luas Red line closer to the proposed stop to fully integrate the services.
A public consultation process is due to commence shortly to determine the number of stops, locations and "park and ride" facilities on the line.