a cost of €106.5m, a figure which included building new stations in Sixmilebridge and Oranmore. The service provides five trains per day between Galway and Limerick. It serves existing stations at Limerick, Ennis, Athenry and Galway, as well as new stations at Sixmilebridge, Gort, Ardrahan and Craughwell. The Limerick to Galway service also feeds into expanded intercity services between Limerick and Dublin and between Galway and Dublin. Iarnród Éireann planned for both routes to gain hourly services at peak and two hourly off-peak; however, recession has resulted in delay, with some services withdrawn. The middle section of the western rail corridor, Athenry – Claremorris, has been programmed but not funded under Transport 21 while the Colooney – Claremorris northern section has not been programmed or funded bar some line clearance work in 2006. Transport 21 is no longer Irish government policy. In comments by then Taoiseach Enda Kenny on 22 December 2014 on Midwest radio said the Western Rail corridor was "not going to happen in the foreseeable future" and said "this is not going to happen" when asked about the Western Rail Corridor. Following those remarks, in January 2015 Kenny said at a press briefing in Lough Lannagh in Castlebar told local media in Mayo that he still sees the potential for developing freight services on the line stating, "I still see potential [on the Western Rail Corridor] from a freight point of view." Patronage In 2011, The Irish Examiner reported that passenger numbers were "still quite low" in 2010. Four years after the opening of the route an online booking facility was introduced in December 2013. On 6 January 2015, Iarnród Éireann reported that following the introduction of online booking and new adult fares, passenger numbers on the Galway-Limerick railway (Western Rail Corridor) for 2014 were in excess of 220,000, including a 72.5 per cent increase in passenger journeys through the Ennis- Athenry section of the line, the largest annual growth on the rail network. The service was also being promoted through free car parking at Gort, Ardrahan and Craughwell; promotion of Taxsaver tickets, giving commuters full tax relief on the cost of monthly and annual season tickets purchased through employers and group travel promotions, including schools. The Irish Times noted the 2015 figures as follows "Of particular note was the growth in passenger numbers on the western rail corridor, which saw a 72.5 per cent increase from