A CLEVELAND MP has called for Government funding to improve rail links with Teesport and Hartlepool to ease road congestion and help create thousands of jobs.

Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, used a special House of Commons adjournment debate on Tuesday to lobby for extended and better freight links for the two ports.

He was supported in the debate by Redcar MP, Vera Baird, who said PD Ports, which owns Teesport, was ready and able to expand, given the right infrastructure.

Dr Kumar said: "I want the freight originating in my area to be switched from road to rail.

"Much of the traffic ends up on local roads and moves through my constituency on its way further north or to Scotland or the Midlands.

"A good proportion of such traffic accesses the national road network, but much of it mixes with local traffic on some of the busiest roads in my constituency."

He said the main container handling ports in the South of England were overcrowded and delays were getting worse.

Better rail links would enable Teesport and Hartlepool to expand, allowing more freight to be handled in the area and creating more jobs.

He said: "Bringing containers to the South for road transfer to the North adds, on average, about 150 miles per container to the journey. That process creates congestion and adds to pollution.

"In the South, the rail lines are already overworked with commuter passenger traffic. Acting to improve connections to Teesport would take pressure off the national UK road network."

Dr Kumar said improvements to signals on the Saltburn to Darlington railway line would cost £1.2m, but would produce savings in reduced road transport costs of more than £17.9m over ten years.

He added: "The rest of the branch line would need investment to carry what are called 'high cube' large containers, which are the industry standard. That would require gauge improvements to a tunnel near Yarm or the provision of a new chord on to the East Coast main line near Darlington.

"That might also look costly, but I believe that the cost would be more than outweighed by the savings made in getting HGVs off the road network."

Mrs Baird said PD Ports had ambitious plans to expand its container operations at Teesport .

She said: "Their proposal would generate about 3,000 jobs.

"Teesport management asserts that it could supply much of the North of England's container traffic needs."

Charlotte Atkins, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, said the department was keen to ensure that the freight industry had the necessary support and infrastructure to deliver a continued rise in rail freight movement