VILLAGERS are backing a bid to see rail services restored to their community.

A petition calling for trains on the County Durham coast line to stop at Blackhall Colliery has been signed by almost 1,000 local people.

Durham county councillor Alan Cox has led the campaign for twice hourly services, on the Hartlepool to Sunderland stretch of the line, to call at Blackhall Colliery. He believes that a halt could be developed at the bottom of Third and Fifth streets in the village.

There are no stops on the line between Hartlepool and Seaham, so many people in Easington district derive no benefit from having a local rail service.

Coun Cox agreed a full station in Blackhall Colliery would be, "asking too much", but he said it would not be necessary.

He said: "We think that a platform where trains can quickly stop and then people can get on and off would be ideal.

"I've had a tremendous response to the petition. I put them in the library and the post office and the signatures must be getting up to the thousand mark."

A review of North-East rail services, under consideration by the Government's Strategic Rail Authority, is looking initially at a proposed two extra stops on the line, but at Grant's Houses, between Horden and Easington, and further south, at Hart.

Coun Cox said Blackhall is only being looked at as part of a second phase of possible development on the line, with any implementation believed to be a long way from consideration.

He said: "The next step is for me to take the petition and try to get Blackhall included in the first wave. The people here want to see this rail halt.

"It would provide a much-needed service and connect us back up with the big towns.

"A train halt would give us services that buses just can't provide at the moment."

"There was a time when we had two stations serving Blackhall and we lost our last one in the 1970s.

"I've been fighting for a rail halt ever since."

The Strategic Rail Authority is also considering the extension of the Weardale line beyond Bishop Auckland, and the reinstatement of the Leamside Line, connecting Teesside with Tyneside via Ferryhill, Fence Houses and Washington.