A NEW report commissioned by rail campaign group West-on-Track has contradicted the findings of an official study by concluding that there is a strong business case for the reopening of the railway between Galway and Mayo. Services were restored between Limerick and Galway via Athenry in 2010 in the €106 million first phase of the Atlantic Railway Corridor extension, but progress with phases two and three, which would reconnect Athenry, Tuam and Claremorris, was deferred due to the recession. A report on the viability of reinstating the 54-kilometre route, produced last year by consultants EY for larnrod Eireann and published in January by Ireland's Department of Transport, asserted that the economic benefits didn't offset the costs and would do little to help with traffic congestion or carbon emissions.
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