A rail users’ group has commended extra trains and improvements for the Wharfedale Line, but says passengers still need more.

Wharfedale Rail Users’ Group (WRUG) is to publish its annual newsletter tomorrow, repeating calls for yet more carriages, plus better signalling, and attacking plans to put train fares up by as much as ten per cent.

The group welcomes the arrival of two extra peak-time trains – due to start in December – and new platform ticket machines expected at at Ben Rhydding, Burley-in-Wharfedale, and Menston stations later this year.

But WRUG says the improvements are not enough to meet the needs of Wharfedale Line passengers. A WRUG spokesman said: “We remain dissatisfied with the Government-dictated fare increases planned for West Yorkshire in the new year, ostensibly to pay for the additional trains.

“But these are not new trains, rather refurbished 20-year-old hand-me-downs, released from other parts of the country who are getting brand new trains at no extra cost. West Yorkshire has the worst overcrowding of the English conurbations outside London, yet is paying a higher premium than elsewhere.”

The group claims the Department for Transport is “back-pedalling” on recommendations made in a train industry report by former Civil Aviation Authority chairman, Sir Roy McNulty.

“Users should watch for the Government White Paper on Transport to be published in the autumn,” said WRUG.

“If this does not promise a better deal for hard-pressed users in West Yorkshire, then users must challenge their MPs, all of whom belong to the parties in government.”

WRUG says the additional peak hour train to and from Leeds, starting in December, should represent just the first stage in providing additional capacity for growth. More or longer trains are still needed, says the group.

WRUG also said it was sorry its proposal for simple signal improvement on the line, enabling services to run closer together, had not been accepted, and repeated calls for better early morning services at weekends.