A working group established to examine the feasibility of reopening a rail link which would effectively link Sligo with Cork will hold its first meeting on Monday.
Campaigners, who have spent 25 years pressing successive governments on the issue, say that for too long grass has been growing on track running through the west.
The working group hopes to report to the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, within months.
The group is chaired by Mr Pat McCann, chief executive of Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.
Next Monday's meeting is being viewed as a positive development by a lobby group, West on Track.
It has estimated that it would cost €250 million to reopen the 114-mile line between Collooney (which is linked with Sligo) and Ennis.
Mr Colmán Ó Raghallaigh, a member of West on Track, said it was crucial that people realised that the project was not being pushed by "emotion or anoraks" and that there were sound economic reasons for having a rail spine running through the west.
West on Track is insisting that there is potential for more than the obviously lucrative routes from Athenry to Galway or Claremorris.
