train a day service started between Limerick and Ennis (connecting or continuing to/from Dublin or Limerick Junction). This was subsequently upgraded to up to 9 trains per day. Rail freight services Freight services ran regularly on the Limerick to Claremorris section until the mid-1990s. However, with the closure of the Asahi factory near Ballina, regular freight services north of Athenry ceased in 1997. Fertiliser trains from Foynes continued to use the line as far as Athenry until 2000 and bulk cement trains from the Irish Cements Ltd Castlemungret factory near Limerick until 2001, when the line ceased to have any regular traffic. The line from Claremorris to Athenry now carries no services and is classified by Iarnród Éireann as "engineering sidings". Work on clearing the line was undertaken by Iarnród Éireann from November 2015 onwards. Works included reinstating fencing and removal of vegetation. Debate Arguments The reopening of the Western Rail Corridor has raised debate in parts of Ireland, with opinion divided on the benefits of the scheme. Arguments in favour of reopening the corridor: Arguments in favour have generally advocated a "balanced" development of the regions vis à vis Dublin and the importance of infrastructure in so doing. The lobby group WestOnTrack has led the campaign to reopen the corridor. The Western Rail Corridor has been supported by all the main political parties and by the local and regional authorities of the counties through which it passes. The case for its reopening has been articulated in an op-ed in the Irish Times, in the Sunday Independent, by the Irish Hotels Federation, in the Irish Independent, in the Western People, and in the findings of a TG4 opinion poll. Environmental benefits from reduced car usage including lower air pollution and smaller carbon footprint Arguments against reopening the Corridor: Arguments against the reopening are based on the cost of the restoration work and the annual subsidy required post capital expenditure, and some advocate using trackbed as a cycle path or Greenway instead. Questions were raised about its viability in an editorial in the Irish Times, by an article in the Irish Independent, by the lobby group, Platform 11, and by the Strategic Rail Review, 2003. In 2009, the McCarthy Report recommended cancelling future sections of the project and closing the Ballina-Manulla rail line. Critics had said that southern sections of the scheme are more viable than those closer to Sligo. The