A company chairman has called on rail bosses to improve the marketing of the year-old Skipton to London service, which passes through Keighley.

Michael Parkinson, a member of Keighley Business Forum and chairman of Airedale Springs at Haworth, has called on Mike Staff, Great North Eastern Railway's regional operations boss, to boost the service. The train, which leaves Skipton at 6.54am and Keighley at 7.05am, arrives in Kings Cross at 9.45am. It returns from Kings Cross at 5.50pm.

GNER expects almost 15,000 people to have used the service in the year.

Mr Staff highlighted its success when he addressed the business forum at its base in Lawkholme Lane, Keighley. But Mr Parkinson told him: "I call the train the ghost train - Keighley's best kept secret. It goes down in the dark and comes back in the dark. How much better would it be with more promotion?" He also called on GNER bosses to consider an earlier start to the London service - so business people could make 10am meetings in London - and introduce a weekend shoppers service.

A GNER spokesman said Mr Staff had agreed to look into better promotion at Keighley but introducing extra trains was only a medium to long term goal.

"A shopper train would be difficult to deploy because all the trains we have are fully deployed. The present service is the existing Leeds to London service but put back to start in Skipton,'' he said. To start an earlier service, GNER would have to be convinced it would not undermine the major service from Leeds.

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