RAIL passengers in York have the chance to punch out their frustration at strikes and delays, as part of a new campaign from Friends of the Earth.

Travellers using York Station on Monday between 7.30am and 9.30am will be invited to hit a giant punch bag to vent their anger at the state of the railways.

Friends of the Earth is calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown to invest more cash in Britain's rail system and put it on the right track.

The environmental pressure group claims freeing up more cash for the railways could see the go-ahead given to a number of rail schemes in the North Yorkshire region.

Projects include new rolling stock for the Transpennine Express franchise, tackling overcrowding and unreliability and funding integrated transport studies.

Friends of the Earth is putting particular emphasis on plans to restore the Harrogate to Ripon and Malton to Pickering lines.

Richard Dyer, rail campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "We want the Chancellor to put more money into this country's railways.

"If he fails to do this he will be robbing passengers of the rail services they deserve.

"We hope that people in North Yorkshire will take up this campaign and let the Government know how strongly they feel about the current state of the trains."

Updated: 10:32 Saturday, April 13, 2002