DEPUTY Prime Minister JohnPrescott could pay for a passing loop on the Lakes railway line as a"showpiece" Lake District traffic project.

The idea was raisedduring the Lakes Line Action Group's annual meeting, when Railtrackconfirmed it had not written off creating a loop on the rail route betweenWindermere and Oxenholme.

Increasing the line's capacity for trainscould cost up to £8million, Railtrack said, but there was "huge support"for the project, which would benefit the economy and theenvironment.

North Western Trains runs one train each hour on theline, but Northern Spirit was interested in running trains to Windermere,too.

If works could be done at Oxenholme, an extra platform built atWindermere, and a passing loop installed between the two stations, eachcompany would be able to run one train an hour, Railtracksaid.

Account executive Carolyn Wilson explained: "If we are goingto find a solution, it's going to be one the industry and the communitycan afford."

She said she would ask Cumbria County Council to calltogether the working group on the Lakes line - which includes Railtrack,North Western Trains and Northern Spirit - so people could talk about theway forward, and how to fund the project.

Couns Edward Acland andJennifer Borer suggested that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott couldfund the works as a "showpiece" traffic project in the LakeDistrict.

Moving to Staveley station, Railtrack said it would not beimproving access because the number of travellers who used the station didnot justify the expense, and other stations were higher up the prioritylist.

Carolyn Wilson said the "best hope" of securing cash would beto "lose" the project cost in the larger package of works for the whole ofthe Lakes line.

l Meanwhile, Virgin has promised travellers that itis trying to improve winter services to and from London Euston on the WestCoast Main Line.

However, engineering works on the line were takingpriority, Railtrack's Mike Cowman explained.

The quietest times towork on the line were winter Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, heexplained, adding that people might have to "live through another two orthree years of extreme pain" to achieve a railway which needed lessmaintenance in future.

After listening to tales from travellers ofdelays and locomotives on fire, Virgin's Keith Hayton said the company wasnot complacent and pledged: "It will get better."

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