Travellers, rail watchdogs and politicians have suffered a setback in their hopes for major investment on the Lakes Line.

Potential projects to double the number of trains travelling between Oxenholme and Windermere by creating a passing loop, and to install a ramp at Staveley

station, have been frozen by the Strategic Rail Authority.

The move is a blow to the Lakes Line Rail User Group, which campaigns for services to be improved on the branch line.

Secretary Malcolm Conway estimated the passing loop would have cost

£10 million, and would double capacity on the line by enabling two trains to travel per hour. He said travellers had to climb up steps to reach the platform at Staveley, and passengers in a wheelchair had to catch the train at Windermere or Burneside because of access difficulties. Mr Conway said it appeared the Strategic Rail Authority formed two years ago to deliver Government targets such as getting more people and freight onto railways was focusing more on punctuality than service levels.

"It's going to be a long time before these schemes come up again," he explained, adding that the Lakes Line was already running at capacity, with no scope to offer passengers an improved service. Around 30 trains use the line each day, and passengers include commuters, school children and year-round tourists.

North West Euro MP Chris Davies has also criticised the freezing of money to the Rail Passenger Partnership (RPS) scheme, which included the Lakes Line upgrade. He described the situation as "desperately important to all who believe that railways have a bright future".

Meanwhile, Westmorland and Lonsdale Liberal Democrat spokesman Tim Farron commented: "Cutting improvement plans on our railways in the name of reliability is a false economy and storing up problems for the future. South Lakeland's rail passengers have years of inadequate, unreliable train services ahead of them."

Amy Spenlove-Brown, for the Strategic Rail Authority, said the authority had some "budgetary constraints" for the coming year, so had to look at various savings.

She said the Lakes Line upgrade was in the "very early stages", and the SRA had received an expression of interest to its RPS scheme for funding, but the scheme had yet to be examined in detail.

"Given that we are temporarily not processing any new bids, and as it's at the very early stages, it looks unlikely we will be doing anything for a year."

February 5, 2003 08:30