A CAMPAIGN group has described statistics showing a decline in the number of people using trains on the Furness Line as ‘depressing reading’.

Robert Parker, of the Furness Line Action Group, said a decline in quality of service was to blame for the reduction.

New figures reveal the number of people using the line, which runs from Barrow to Carnforth, in the year to April 2018 dropped by 36,000 from the previous 12 months to 1,676,239.

And it is was similar story on the Cumbrian Coast Line with 925,846 users, a drop of 33,000 on 2016/17.

“Reliability is the main issue, when people can’t rely on trains, they won’t use them," said Mr Parker.

“I’ve spoken to taxi drivers in Barrow who tell me it is difficult to get a taxi at the weekend because so many people are using them to get to the airport rather than using trains.

“Looking at the line up the North West coast, you can see numbers of people at all the stations is dropping, people can’t rely on the service.

“It is almost as quick to drive from Millom to Oxenholme then it is to get a train down to Barrow and up north again.”

Mr Parker said improvements were necessary for more people to use trains again.

He said: “There is all this talk about what the passenger wants, I would say passengers want trains that arrive and leave on time.”

MP John Woodcock said the drop in use was a “reflection of the industrial action and new timetabling”.

Trudy Harrison, MP for Copeland, said: “It’s a crying shame that fewer people are using our train service, especially as we are seeing reliability improving and have more trains than ever before on the Cumbrian Coast Line.

A spokesman for Northern said: “It is, of course, disappointing to see any fall in passenger numbers, but we have still seen significant growth on the Cumbrian Coast Line since the start of the franchise. 2018 was a difficult year, with challenges that have been well documented, but 2019 will feature further improvements for our customers.

“We will start to introduce our brand new trains, Pacers will be retired, we will continue the refurbishment of the rest of our trains and will carry out further work to deliver better stations."