A CALL has been made for a rail czar to be appointed, in a bid to improve a number of rail services that run through Salisbury.

The 141-mile Portsmouth-Cardiff route through Salisbury, Bath and Bristol carries 4.5 million passengers a year. It is not only one of the country's fastest-growing routes, but also one of the most overcrowded.

Now the Rail Passengers' Committee is calling for action and "modest investment" for this route and other routes running between Swindon and Southampton, Bristol and Weymouth, Cardiff and Brighton, Bristol and London through Salisbury, and the Portsmouth and Penzance route.

Wessex Trains and South West Trains are the two main operators and a 200-page report prepared by a task force that studied the routes is calling for a series of cost-effective recommendations to enhance services, with limited investment in rolling stock and infrastructure.

The recommendations include the appointment of a specialist route czar to oversee the improvements and reduce overcrowding, by introducing longer trains and revised schedules.

The report suggests three types of service - an hourly Cardiff-Portsmouth express, as now, and an hourly semi-fast market town service from Bristol to Southampton, with some trains extending to Brighton, and separate, hourly local services.

Local services include Bristol-Frome, Salisbury-Totton via Southampton airport and Westbury-Swindon.

Other services looked at include Portsmouth-Penzance and the Bristol-Salisbury-Waterloo route.

Christopher Irwin, chairman of the committee said the Portsmouth-Cardiff route carries "thriving traffic" and said it would carry more, were passengers not deterred by overcrowding and poor reliability.

He said: "Road alternatives are inadequate, slow or congested.

"We need a route czar with strategic vision and the ability to build on the commercial opportunities afforded by new housing growth near the railway."

Mr Irwin said it was up to the railway industry and local and regional authorities to build on the study.

"Not to do so would be to miss an opportunity to deliver a railway that is fit for the purpose," he said.

Passenger numbers grew by 11 per cent last year and the report warns that, if this growth continues, overcrowding will become so severe that passengers will regularly be unable to board trains.

It also warns that 133,000 new houses are planned along the route, with substantial growth over the coming decade and beyond.