CAMPAIGNERS in a Fenland village are busy trying to persuade rail chiefs that trains should stop at their almost dormant train station more often than twice a day. Members of Manea Rail Service Action Group think the village station could turn out to be a

CAMPAIGNERS in a Fenland village are busy trying to persuade rail chiefs that trains should stop at their almost dormant train station more often than twice a day.

Members of Manea Rail Service Action Group think the village station could turn out to be a vital network route for both their village and surrounding places such as Christchurch and Welney.

They want trains that stop at Whittlesey to stop at their station too. They do not understand why the two stations, similar in size and facilities, are treated differently.

Group member Valerie Staff said: "Manea is growing in leaps and bounds and we have got to get these trains to stop because people cannot get anywhere.

"The trains go to places like Stansted Airport, Liverpool, Birmingham, Ipswich, Ely and London, to name a few, and commuters would normally travel to Littleport to catch the trains but cannot because the A1101 Welney Wash is flooded.

"It is crazy to have a station, that can serve the villages, closed."

Only two trains in each direction, one in the morning and one in the evening, stop at Manea station as part of a service by Central Trains between Birmingham and Stansted Airport, while trains stop once every two hours in Whittlesey as part of 'One' railway's service between Ely and Peterborough.

But action group chairman Mark Archer said Clive Morris, 'One' railway rural business director, said at a meeting to discuss the future of rail travel in Bury St Edmunds, that he is "very keen" to stop his trains at Manea station.

Mr Archer said: "He would need permission from the Department for Transport.