RAIL chiefs were last night accused of paying scant regard to the needs of passengers as the fall-out from a series of cuts continued.

The North-East Railway Passengers' Committee (RPC) launched a fresh attack on the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) for cutting Durham Coastline services by half.

A decision not to extend funding for additional trains, which have been running for three years between Newcastle and Hartlepool, means the service was reduced from half-hourly to hourly on Sunday.

The Tees-Tyne service linking Middlesbrough and Newcastle is also set to be reduced from 18 services a day to three.

The RPC said it found it unacceptable that the SRA was content for passengers using the Durham Coastline service not to find out about the changes until they saw a copy of the timetable.

Committee chairwoman Christine Knights said: "While consultation has been promised, the passengers' views are not likely to be heeded since the decision appears to have already been made."

A spokeswoman for the SRA said it had to make a quick decision on the Durham Coast Mainline service because its funding was coming up for renewal.

She said: "The business case was so strong that we just could not justify continuing with the amount of subsidy that we gave it.

"It was only covering about 25 per cent of its costs and each passenger journey was costing about £11."

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar is calling on transport ministers to demand the SRA think again.

He said: "This move is scandalous and cannot be allowed to happen."

Cuts to the Middlesbrough-Newcastle service will be subject to consultation, with a decision in December.