Track laying work for the Luas Cross-City line gets underway on O'Connell Street in Dublin today.

The work comes ahead of the extension of the morning and evening ban on cars travelling through College Green.

Drivers are already restricted in their use of the area by the bus gate at rush-hour in the morning and evening.

But from Monday August 10th, the College Green bus corridor will operate from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday.

The Cross-City Luas will cost about €368m, and is due for completion in 2017.

It will connect the existing Green and Red Luas lines, and will see an additional 10 million passenger journeys per year.

There will be 13 new stops - with eight of these in the city centre area - and it will take 21 minutes to travel from St Stephen's Green to Cabra.

It is one of the largest capital investment projects undertaken by the government.