RMT's Bristol Rail branch, alongside the city's trades union council and transport campaigners, will be lobbying Bristol councillors from 14:00 on Tuesday (February 28) urging them to throw out a Liberal Democrat cabinet proposal to axe the council's entire £138,000 rail support budget.

The grant supports services on the Severn Beach line, which provides a vital transport lifeline across north and west Bristol, through Clifton and Avonmouth to Severn Beach.

"£138,000 is not a huge amount of money and Bristol city council should be considering increasing it, not cutting it," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The Severn Beach line needs more services, not fewer, but axing this lifeline grant will start a downward spiral that could lead to closure.

"The proposal has already prompted the First group to plan replacing some morning services with buses and rescheduling the rest to make them useless for people who rely on them to get to work.

"RMT members in and around Bristol will be converging on the Council House from 2pm on Tuesday when this proposal will be debated, and I would urge everyone who values their rail link to join in and tell the council loud and clear to save the Severn Beach line.

"It is good news that Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy is to table a motion in the House of Commons condemning a planned cut that can only result in more traffic on already congested roads," Bob Crow said.

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Cuts in local rail funding - Severn Beach line

Early Day Motion to be tabled by Kerry McCarthy MP:

"That this House condemns the decision by Liberal Democrat councillors on Bristol City Council to recommend ending financial support for local rail services on the Severn Beach railway line in Bristol by cutting the entire £138,000 rail support grant from the local authority transport budget; believes that this decision puts the future of existing local rail services into doubt at a time when rail users are crying out for an expansion of local rail services and notes that from December 2006 it is now proposed to substitute a bus service for existing through-train services along the line; supports the campaign to save and improve Bristol's rail services and calls on Bristol City Council to reverse this decision."