New Transport Secretary Stephen Byers has been asked to meet a delegation concerned about railway services from York.

Derek Smallwood, City of York councillor and chairman of the Transpennine Rail Group, contacted the chief of the newly-formed Department of Transport, Local Government and Regions on the day he was appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He said: "We have some concerns about parts of franchise bids which have been put forward for the Transpennine line, and we are asking for a meeting with Mr Byers so we can put these concerns to him before he makes a decision.

"One of the franchise bids proposes to have trains stop in Manchester at Victoria station rather than Piccadilly, with no through route for trains to the airport.

"We want to see in place a link from Victoria to the airport so that passengers don't need to traipse through the city with their luggage to get a train from Piccadilly.

"If we are to achieve a shift from cars to trains, they have to go where people want them to, with the frequency and comfort that meets their needs."

Coun Smallwood is still awaiting a reply from Mr Byers to his letter, posted the day after the General Election.

The Transpennine route, which runs from Newcastle to Liverpool, passing through York, has had three bids made for the franchise to run it.

The suggestion that has caused the concern is from train operator Connex.

Coun Smallwood said the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) had already made a recommendation of who it thinks should win the right, but the final decision will be made by Mr Byers.

Coun Smallwood said: "We had been asking for a meeting with the SRA to speak about these concerns for about six months, but by the time we got it the recommendation had been made.

"We are hoping that Mr Byers will hear us before he makes his decision."

A spokesman for Connex said: "We have really not publicly stated the detail of our plans because, if we are identified as the preferred bidder, we will have further discussions with the Strategic Rail Authority to finalise plans."

Updated: 08:35 Monday, June 18, 2001