Rail campaigner John Anderson is fighting to get better train services and move cars off the roads in traffic-choked Baildon.

He is asking hundreds of commuters at the village station to sign an eight-point manifesto highlighting his campaign.

The former Beckfoot Grammar School head teacher, who is now an education management adviser, is on the platform this week handing out the document as people board and leave the trains.

Improvements called for in the manifesto include:

l a reliable train service, exactly on time to meet connections;

l a Baildon-Leeds express as frequently as possible;

l a bus service to and from Baildon Village and Lucy Hall, near Shipley Glen, which enters the station yard and is integrated with the train timetable;

l a ticket vending machine and another covered waiting area;

half-hourly trains in the evenings.

Mr Anderson, 60, is a member of the Wharfedale Rail Users Group which will consider the petition when it is complete.

He said: "The traffic in Baildon is insupportable and the best way is to go on the top of it on the railway, but improvements are needed."

Howard Keal, for rail operators Northern Spirit, said a direct link to Leeds would not be feasible because it would mean longer journeys for people elsewhere.

He added that trains ran half-hourly between Bradford, Leeds, Ilkley and Skipton and there had been a ten per cent increase in passengers year on year.

But Mr Keal said they would be in talks with Metro and Railtrack about evening services with the arrival of new electric trains.

He said they would look at the provision of ticket machines at unstaffed stations such as Baildon, although many people used Metro cards which were available at stations with staff and post offices. He added there were plans to install information display facilities.

l Mr Anderson can be contacted about the manifesto at 1, Gillbeck Close, Baildon, on Bradford 590525.

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