Witham is ready to persuade rail bosses to reinstate multi-million pound improvements on the line to Braintree.
Plans to build a loop line so more than one train could use the branch, longer platforms and a bridge at Freeport have been shunted aside indefinitely by the Government's Strategic Rail Authority in a financial freeze.
It happened days after the train operators, First Great Eastern, hailed the line as a major business success when passengers numbers rose by 37 per cent.
"The region desperately needs that line to be at its best ," said Witham Mayor Keiron Boylan.
"These improvements are sorely needed to bring more business to the area." Ian Cass, chairman of Witham Chamber of Commerce, said the town seemed to have lost out on both the bridge over the line at Witham Station, and now the promised improvements to the branch line.
"We have been suffering for years and now it seems as though it is two fingers up to the commuters once again," he said.
The Strategic Rail Authority will consider new applications for funds from March 2004.
Published Wednesday, February 5, 2003
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