Two trains to London every hour, and an hourly service from Worcester south to Gloucestershire and Bristol will two of the main suggestions put forward by rail users to the government.

The Department for Transport is holding a major public consultation on what people want to see from the Great Western franchise when it is renewed in 2022 after a three-year extension from 2019

As part of this there will be a public session at County hall in Worcester on Friday afternoon.

Members from the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, which represents passengers on the line from Oxford through Evesham, Worcester and Malvern to Hereford.

That line is part of the Worcester to London service.

Chairman of the group John Ellis said: “members will be there on Friday and we are also putting together a draft of our formal response to the consultation, which is due in February.

“One of our priorities would be an improvement in the service and reliability of trains south down to Bristol and beyond.

“At the moment it’s a two-hour service and the reliability is not good. The trains go to all sorts of places south of Bristol and often get delayed, so they’re delayed coming back, and often the service is terminated at Bristol, or Gloucester and Cheltenham.

“A cancellation on a two hour service, is disastrous, so we’d very much like to see an hourly service from Worcester to Bristol at least.”

Mr Ellis also said: “The CLPG is part of a task force looking at ways to improve the London service. And added: “One of the things we’d like to see eventually is two trains an hour from Worcester to London. That would take redoubling the lines at either end, as the current single lines make it difficult. That will take a substantial level of investment.”

The public consultation will be held between 1 and 3pm on Friday January 12 at County Hall in Worcester.