IARNROD EIREANN DEFENDS COMMUTER NUMBERS ON WESTERN RAIL CORRIDOR

Date Published: 04-Sep-2012

Iarnrod Eireann says the Western Rail Corridor is not in crisis and says it's committed to boosting the number of journey times on the Galway to Limerick line following a summer travel peak.It's to introduce free car parking at Craughwell, Ardrahan and Gort railway stations from next Monday until the end of the year, as part of the initiative.The promotional campaign will also see a student commuter ticket offering and the implementation of free Wi-Fi on ALL services.The group says that although numbers did not reach initial business case targets set in 2007, it's now 5 to 7 percent ahead overall for 2012.90 thousand journeys were made from the Athenry to Galway portion of the line in the first year of its operation from March to December 2010.This was followed by 123 thousand journeys in 2011 and 71 thousand in the first seven months of this year.Barry Kenny is spokesperson for Iarnrod Eireann and says the original figures forecast were based on regional development which then stalled.