RAIL chiefs have insisted that the future of Pershore Railway Station is safe, despite doubts following comments by the managing director of Great Western Railway.

Serious doubts were cast over the future of Pershore's services following comments by Great Western MD Mark Hopwood quoted in the August edition of monthly rail publication Modern Railways.

In the article Mr Hopwood was quoted as saying "some Pershore calls may have to be taken out to allow for Worcestershire Parkway stops."

Now in separate responses to Pershore's Mayor Councillor Bob Gillmor, the Town Council and the town's MP Harriett Baldwin, Mr Hopwood has guaranteed that Pershore's existing services are safe.

In his letter Mr Hopwood said: "I apologise for the confusion the article in Modern Railways caused.

"As confirmed at the (Pershore) public meeting on 16 March we have committed that the total of services calling at Pershore will not be reduced from today."

However he continues: "It is true that Pershore is unlikely to benefit from a full hourly service in December 2018 due to Worcestershire Parkway and it was ,

"I suspect, this point that Modern Railways were alluding to. This is a consequence of infrastructure limitations of the North Cotswold Line."

Pershore's Mayor, councillor Bob Gillmor said: "We welcome Great Western's firm and public commitment to maintaining current service levels from Pershore Station.

"However we believe that the commitment needs to go a stage further and that rail services from the fast growing town of Pershore, which is seeing significant year on year growth in passenger numbers, should be upgraded so that all the new hourly services proposed call at the station.”