The Dublin and Drogheda Railway first constructed a branch from the Dublin-Belfast main line through Navan to the town of Oldcastle which opened in 1850.

In 1858, the Dublin and Meath Railway was authorised to construct a branch from Clonsilla to Navan off the MGWR main line to Sligo, which was opened in 1862.

Following industrial action by Iarnród Éireann train drivers in 2001, gypsum freight services from Kingscourt were transferred to road haulage, which led to the remainder of the line being mothballed.

[3] The growth of the economy in County Meath, added to the increase in the population of Navan,[4] has led to calls over the past few years for a rail service to be reinstated from Dublin.

[9][10] Plans for both the Dunshaughlin and Kilmessan stations were deferred due to the reduction in exchequer funding for capital investment programmes.

[13] In March 2008, the transport minister blocked these proposals in favour of utilising Broadstone for the Luas system, instead encouraging IÉ to seek planning permission to keep Docklands as the terminus for the Navan line and services from Maynooth and Kildare.

That year, the Irish government's regional spatial strategy recommended that the status of the plans be downgraded from "implementation" to "review"; seen as a setback to the opening of the line.

[21][22] The group has also suggested that, given the two-phase approach to implementing the plan, there is little benefit to residents of Navan until the line is extended there, due to the current positioning of the toll collection points near M3 Parkway station.