Over 100,000 people travelled the Western Rail Corridor between Ennis and Athenry last year.
The seasonally adjusted figures from Iarnród Éireann are contained in an independent report which has just been published.
The independent study, which has just been published, was carried out by Cicero Communications for Iarnród Éireann last November.
It counted the number of passengers using the mid-section of the Western Rail Corridor and covered 76 trains operating over 8 days.
The report reveals that passenger numbers doubled to 102,000 between Ennis and Athenry in 2015, while the total number travelling between Galway and Limerick exceeded 270,000.
The Western Rail Corridor has now surpassed targets, despite running 4 fewer trains daily than originally projected.
Iarnród Éireann has described the surge in numbers as continued evidence of growth from 2014, following new pricing and marketing initiatives.
