AS Cambridgeshire’s guided busway celebrated its first birthday, the former chairman of the Bramley Line admitted plans for a heritage railway in the Fens looked doomed.

The busway, which links St Ives to Cambridge, has proved extremely popular, carrying more than 2.5million passengers in its first year - 40 per cent more than expected.

Meanwhile the reopening of the Bramley Line, as a heritage railway between Wisbech and March, has hit the buffers.

Brian Baylis, the former chairman of the Bramley Line, said work had ceased and no members meetings were being held.

He said: “I seriously can’t see this project coming to fruition now, which is sad, as there has been a tremendous amount of work put in by volunteers in the past, who are now kept in the dark for whatever reason.

“A year ago, I informed one member of the trust, as it is now called, of an interest-free loan being offered so as to secure it but was rejected due to some small conditions.

“It never got discussed any further, with them still said to be trying to this day, to reopen the line.

“Exactly how do the trust plan to reopen it when they keep people shut out? The art of communication is no longer used by them.”