TRAIN passengers who travel between Worcester and Birmingham via Kidderminster are invited to a meeting this week.

The Stourbridge Line User Group is holding its annual public meeting on Wednesday and is inviting everyone who uses the line's trains to attend.

Speakers will include representatives from Central Trains, Centro, West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority, Chiltern Railways and Parry People Movers.

They will also answer questions from the audience. The meeting is in Hagley at St Saviour's Church Hall in Worcester Road, starting at 7.30pm.

The group's principal campaign is for the reintroduction of direct trains from stations on the Stourbridge line to Birmingham New Street - allowing easy connections on to inter-city trains for destinations across Britain.

It wants the New Street service to be written into the new passenger trains franchise that will start in late 2007.

The group's chairman Nigel Tolley said he would be discussing the New Street Connection 2007 campaign with a Minister from the Department for Transport next month.

"The lack of connections to New Street station is the number one issue for our members," he said.

"People have told us they're either going by car or not making journeys at all because the current arrangements are so inconvenient.

"The more people who come to our meeting, support our campaign and join the Stourbridge Line User Group, the more we can show how strongly people feel about it."

Further information and contact details are available on www.stourbridgelineusergroup.info