CAMPAIGNING MP Gordon Prentice has vowed to keep up the fight to re-open the Colne to Skipton railway line despite a Transport Minister pouring cold water on the idea.

The Pendle Labour back bencher was supported by Ribble Valley Tory Nigel Evans and Skipton Conservative MP David Curry when he made a plea to reinstate the route to Rail Minister Charlotte Atkins.

Mr Prentice said the trackbed was in good condition and that the total cost of reinstating the line would be £33million -- less than the cost of a single Eurofighter Typhoon.

He told Ms Atkins: "There is a huge coalition support for the reinstatement of the railway.

"The cost of bringing it back would be relatively modest.

"It would open up new economic and recreational opportunities for people in East Lancashire and North Yorkshire.

"It would lead in due course to the electrification of the railway from Preston to Skipton and it would be a major driver in the regeneration of East Lancashire, where there are so many socially excluded people."

He praised the Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) for their "Herculean efforts" in promoting the case to re-open the line but attacked the Liberal Democrats for opposing it and suggesting the trackbed could be used as a village bypass.

Mr Prentice said re-opening the line would open up the Yorkshire Dales to the people of East Lancashire and give a direct link to Leeds and Bradford.

But his suggestion that it could be re-opened as part of the Community Rail Partnership Programme was not encouraged by Ms Atkins.

She said: "There are no plans to reinstate the railway between Colne and Skipton, but the route is safeguarded for transport use.

"I am sure that your enthusiasm and campaigning zeal will carry your vision forward." But she said any decision over whether to use the trackbed for rail or road use would have to be made in the light of assessments of local transport needs.

Mr Prentice said afterwards: "The minister was reluctant to be drawn on whether the new Community Rail Partnership could be the vehicle for reinstating the line from build to operation.

"I have written to the Department of Transport to follow this up. With the winding up of the Strategic Rail Authority, responsibility for the shape of the network will pass to the government."

Mr Evans said many older people in East Lancashire would be delighted to have the rail line re-opened giving them access to the beauties of North Yorkshire.

He told Ms Atkins and Mr Prentice: "People in our patches are quite rightly both rational and fanatical about the re-opening of this line."