The Railway Procurement Agency confirmed that it applied to An Bord Pleanala for a Railway Order to build the 17km Metro North line.

An Bord Pleanala can decide to hold an oral hearing into the application.

“We have lodged supporting documentation to An Bord Pleanala for the Railway Order,” an RPA spokesman said.

The plans for the line, which will connect Swords and Belinstown in north Co Dublin to St Stephen’s Green, go on display from today for the next six weeks.

They can be inspected at An Bord Pleanala offices in Marlborough St; Dublin City Council Civic Offices at Wood Quay; Fingal Co Council, Swords, the RPA offices at Parkgate St, Ballymun Regeneration Ltd and at Ballymun Civic Offices.

The Cabinet is expected to decide next year if Metro North will go ahead once the full cost of building the light rail line is known.

If Dublin’s own version of the Underground gets the green light, it should beopen for business in 2013.

The RPA documentation delivered to An Bord Pleanala today includes an Environmental Impact Statement. The RPA has held open days to inform the public about Metro North during the summer.

Once the project gets underway, Dubliners will have to brace themselves for years of traffic disruption.

The areas worst affected by the disruption will be large portions of the city centre along with Swords and Ballymun.

More than 150 bus routes will be changed due to the closure of Westmoreland Street during the construction phase, and a portion of St Stephen's Green will also be sealed off while the underground section is being built.

Work on the Metro North, the underground DART tunnel and the Luas line which will link the original Red and Green lines will take place over the same time period to minimise disruption.

The RPA say that Metro Nroth will allow travel in under 20 minutes from Dublin Airport to Dublin City Centre.

It is a “key element” in the creation of a fully integrated rail based public transport network as envisaged in Transport 21.

It will interchange with existing Luas services, DART and suburban rail services at St Stephens Green via the proposed rail interconnector and with suburban and mainline rail services at Drumcondra, the RPA say.

The city centre terminus will be at St Stephens Green while the Swords stop will be in the median of the road outside the Pavilions Shopping Centre

The RPA say it will carry some 34 million passengers a year, allowing passengers to travel quickly and easily from Dublin City Centre to Swords in under 30 minutes. Metro North will have over 2,00 Parkand Ride spaces.

Metro North will run underground from St. Stephen's Green to north of Ballymun before continuing on above ground to south of Dublin Airport.

Here it will move underground beneath Dublin Airport before continuing above ground via Swords to Lissenhall. It will have underground stops at St. Stephen's Green, O'Connell Bridge, Parnell Square, Mater, Drumcondra, Griffith Avenue, Dublin City University, Ballymun and Dublin Airport. It will have above ground stops at Santry Demesne, Metropark, Fosterstown, Swords, Seatown and Lissenhall.

- Michael Lavery