Re: Stratford upon Avon Railway station and the North Warwicks Line. My first thoughts that the line should be called The Shakespeare line is why haven't we done this before as the line does not run into any part of North Warwickshire, what a good idea.

This will make it much easier to promote it in the tourism market and with things as they are at the moment, anything that promotes Stratford as a place to stay must be good.

We should encourage vintage trains to run more steam services which could be a joint promotion, for example look how well the Severn Valley Railway performs. To encourage people to use the trains they must be clean, reliable, cheaper and quicker than the car.#

Parking must be provided at the railway stations, which is safe and well lit in winter.

The park and ride planned for Bishopton must be linked to the town by train not buses, we have too much traffic on the Birmingham Road already.

A premium service could be provided for the commuter trains in the morning and afternoon rush hours. A better standard of train would be needed.

Journey times need to be reduced especially for the morning and evening rush hours.

All the stations need to have their facilities and dcor improved making them more user friendly. When will the government learn that you get nowhere beating the motorist with a big stick. If public transport were cheap, reliable, clean and convenient people would use it.

To be fair to Central Trains they have spent some money to tidy up the Stratford end of the line but we cannot expect them to make any reasonable size of investment with their franchise running out in 2004.

I will continue my efforts to make the Stratford upon Avon Railway Station a better place not only for the tourists but our local people, many of whom use it daily to travel to work.

COUNCILLOR CLIVE THOMAS.