Review of Claremorris to Athenry rail line welcomed

WELCOME Lisa Chambers, TD has welcomed the appointment of consultants to review the feasibility of the Western Rail Corridor being extended to Claremorris.

Anton McNulty

The much maligned Western Rail Corridor received some welcome good news last week with increased numbers on the Galway to Limerick line while consultants have been appointed to review the Claremorris to Athenry line.
Hopes to extend the Western Rail Corridor were boosted when it was announced that consultants EY DKM were appointed to carry out a financial and economic appraisal of the Western Rail corridor from Claremorris to Athenry.
The appointment was welcomed by Fianna FΡil TD Lisa Chambers who said the line would open up a commuter service that would link Mayo and Galway city via rail.
“This has been long campaigned for and I sincerely hope that this is the first step to delivering this project. We had to fight hard to get this review as Fine Gael have been very reluctant to engage and although this is only the first step, it is certainly a positive development that provides some hope.
“The review will open up to public consultation over the next few months and I will engage with the consultants to make the case for Mayo. I am absolutely convinced that if a good commuter service is put in place from Claremorris to Galway city that the demand will be there and it will be used,” she said.
“The potential for this service is huge. I have no doubt that if there was a train from Mayo right into Galway city in the morning people would leave the cars at home and do what is known as park and ride, park at the station in Claremorris and take the train into Galway city. “You could have a connecting train from Westport, Castlebar and Ballina that brings passengers to Claremorris to connect with the Galway service. The other area of potential is around tourism and that would be two-way traffic, tourists coming from Galway to visit Mayo and vice versa,” Deputy Chambers concluded.
Iarnród Éireann announced that they expect passenger journeys on the Galway to Limerick line to reach 420,000 by the end of 2019 compared to 387,408 in 2018.
The Limerick to Galway line is the fastest growing route on the Irish network and in the year to March 24, over 91,000 journeys were recorded on the line. This compares with 74,000 journeys for the same period last year.