THE long-term future of one of Britain's most scenic rail lines has been secured after it was named as a community route.

The Esk Valley line, which runs from Middlesbrough to Whitby, is one of only three routes in the country that have been chosen by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) to be community railways.

Members of the Esk Valley Railway Development Company said the decision would allow them to make the line more cost-effective for passengers.

It also aims to increase passengers to reduce damage caused by cars in the North York Moors National Park, cut congestion in Whitby and reduce accidents on the roads to Pickering, Middlesbrough and Saltburn.

The railway runs for 36 miles through small communities to Grosmont, where it connects with the North York Moors Railway and goes on to Whitby.

The SRA launched the Community Rail Development Strategy last year. It aims to secure the long-term future of the country's branch lines by controlling costs and getting local people involved.

Neil Buxton, the secretary of the Esk Valley Railway Development Company, said they have been working with the SRA on the project for the past nine months.

He said: "It gives us the chance to look at new ways of operating the lines and to make them more cost-effective and offer better value for money, both for those using the line and for those running it.

"It gives us opportunities to work in a different way to the main lines, where tracks are laid to carry trains at 125mph.

"The tracks on the Esk Valley line are similar, but trains will never travel at that speed, so now we can look at the tracks.

"We will also be looking at better ways of physically linking the North York Moors Railway with Esk Valley in terms of running trains more easily into Whitby."