RIBBLE Valley MP Nigel Evans has welcomed a decision which will see more goods transported to Castle Cement in Clitheroe by rail rather than road.

The company has decided to have deliveries of iron oxide from the North East to its Ribblesdale works transported by train, which will take around 35 lorry shipments per month off Ribble Valley roads.

Instead, a 1,000-tonne freight train will take the strain of the load with Castle Cement promising it will continue to assess its future transport needs where it is viable to do so.

Mr Evans said: "This is great news for both the line and people of the Ribble Valley. I hope this will be the start of things to come."

He added he would like to see the company resume the delivery of cement from its plants by train rather than by road.

A limited amount of coal is delivered to Castle Cement by train, using the Ribble Valley line which is currently only rarely used beyond Clitheroe by freight services and not at all by passenger services apart from Dalesrail specials.

Rail campaigners in the area have hailed the increased use of the line for freight as a step in the right direction in raising the profile of the line.

Passenger services were cut between Blackburn and Hellifield in the early 1960s and only restored as far as Clitheroe in 1993.

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