AN MP is to meet Government transport chiefs in a bid to save services from being cut on a rail route.

Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, will meet Transport Minister Kim Howells on February 2 to discuss plans to slash trains between Saltburn and Newcastle.

The Strategic Rail Authority says the link is under-used. But Mr Kumar has pointed to figures from the North-East Rail Monitoring Group, made up of councils and strategic partners in the region, showing passenger numbers have risen by 22 per cent recently.

Dr Kumar, who collected a 5,000-name petition protesting at cuts planned from May, said: "To have a passenger increase of nearly a quarter between Teesside and Tyneside shows how nonsensical this proposal is.

"In a rational world, it would never have seen the light of day and I will be asking the minister to see that these ideas are sent back to the deep hole where they came from."

A spokesman for the SRA welcomed the passenger figures, but said the planned cuts were of 'net benefit.' He said: "We don't want to cut services but benefits sometimes outweigh the costs. In this instance, it will free up slots to improve high-speed services such as Virgin Cross Country."