A RAIL group produced a report to highlight how a train line has been “neglected”.

The rail user group Ontrack and the Tendring Rail Group created the document about the Greater Anglia Colchester to Clacton line.

At Ontrack’s annual meeting, Clacton MP Giles Watling addressed the report and Greater Anglia’s stakeholder manager Alan Neville was in attendance.

The report says the line has suffered while almost all other lines in East Anglia have seen increases in the number of trains and the level of usage.

The group said fares were also up 25 per cent higher than the Norfolk or Suffolk average.

The report said: “There has been a big drop in the number of people travelling into Colchester by train in the morning peak, with two of the three best-used trains having been taken off in the 1990s.

“This, of course, is one of the reasons for the major traffic problems in east Colchester and contrasts greatly with the big increase in rail use for commuter journeys elsewhere in the country.

“Usage of Frinton and Walton stations has also become especially poor due to the loss of through London trains and the generally bad service and risk of missed connections.”

The group has requested two extra trains each way to make the morning and evening peak services at Colchester Town half-hourly for both Clacton and Walton commuters.

It is also asking for a review of fares. Figures from the report say standard day returns to Colchester from Clacton, Frinton and Walton cost £6.30 in 2004. In 2018 a standard day return was £12.

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said: “There has been much investment in our Tendring rail lines over the past 15 years and there is more to come.

“Some of our newest existing trains operate on these lines but we’re replacing them with new state-of-the-art trains.

“In common with most branch lines there is an hourly service, however, we’ll continue to look at opportunities to improve service frequency.

“There are plenty of great value fares including Clacton, Walton and Frinton to London from £10 for an advance ticket.”