A PIONEERING railway system could help solve pollution problems in the York city centre.

Council officials are considering launching Britain's first major ultra-light railway scheme to join the York Central project with the city centre.

The project would be similar to the light railway tram-style system popular in Manchester and Sheffield, but more light-weight and with less impact on the environment.

"An ultra-light railway is one of the plans, which uses more light-weight vehicles and track," said Martin Revell, City of York Council's head of transport planning.

"It has been trialled in a minor way in Bristol, but you can't point to any other major schemes like it in the country," he said.

The system is one of three mass transit systems recommended by an independent report, including a tram-style system and a guided-bus system.

The project is part of the plan to cut air pollution, a legal requirement to prevent City of York Council being "named and shamed" by Defra as over-polluting.

"The reason a mass transit system is an option is that in order to tackle air quality we need to provide some other means of accessing goods and services," said Mr Revell.

"The only option to help tackle traffic issues is to provide an alternative."

York Central, the "teardrop" development site close to the railway, was seen as ideal.

Mr Revell said: "Linking York Central would be a logical place that might make such a system economically and practically viable.

"The area is a relatively blank canvas at the moment, otherwise in the city there is not a lot of space, what with the road, cycling and pedestrian paths already, to make this work.

"There will also be the volume of people there to generate demand."

Mr Revell said the matter was now scheduled to undergo a council investigation into the viability of the relative projects this financial year. He said funding would be sought from the Government if it decided to go ahead, and if pursued it would feature in the 2005 Local Transport Plan.

"The timescale for the project would likely be three to eight years," said Mr Revell.

"The pollution problem does need to be creatively looked at, and there are some very interesting proposals to get people out of their cars," said acting environmental protection manager Mike Southcombe.

Updated: 10:58 Friday, August 01, 2003