The £146 million package of rail improvements for Cornwall that has been secured, is excellent news. I believe passenger numbers will continue to grow, as Cornwall increases its housing stock and population rate, in addition to the increase in tourist numbers arriving by train.

However, alongside this, I believe reliable bus services, particularly from rural areas, should now be a priority, with which to access stations and make reasonable connection times possible.

Following the previous retrograde move, some improvement has been recently made with the Lizard area buses, with regards to timetable, however, the route still experiences buses that are delayed and that suffer mechanical failure. In addition to which, some buses are not disability friendly. When having to book train seats for long distance journeys, the reliability of a connecting bus service is imperative.

Hopefully future improvement will be made to the reliability of bus services with which to compliment the investment and improvement of the rail network infrastructure.

Gill Zella Martin