ONE community group is fighting to see the return of Cumnock's train station.

The Cumnock Action Plan Steering Group are considering a campaigning to see the re-introduction of the former Cumnock railway station.

Cumnock is East Ayrshire's second most populated town after Kilmarnock and the group are now pondering a bid to bring back the station to ease commuter woes in the town.

Currently, anyone from Cumnock looking to get a train to Glasgow, Kilmarnock or Dumfries has to first make their way to Auchinleck or New Cumnock to board a train.

The Action Plan Steering Group believe that a train station in Cumnock could provide a jobs boost and help bring tourists flooding in to the area.

A spokesman for the group said: "At this moment in time, there are three options if you wish to travel in or out of the Cumnock area and these are bus, car or you don’t.

"At the moment most choose the more expensive method of car travel and with the Governments courageous targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions over the coming years, there are simply no alternatives for the people from our part of Ayrshire. These are the key factors that are considered when people choose to live in an area and we possibly are not providing the best solution for our community."

A standard bus return from Cumnock to Glasgow is £13.20 and can take as long as an hour and a half.

Travelling by car would take around 50 minutes and would cost around £16, depending on your car type.

The spokesman added: "If you wanted to get the train, the nearest train station is Auchinleck which is a two to three mile walk, bus journey or a £5 taxi each way. The train travel duration is a convenient 56 minutes and a return is £13. This, however, increases to £23 a return if you need a taxi to get there.

"The East Ayrshire Local Development Plan rightly identifies Cumnock as East Ayrshire’s second town behind Kilmarnock. It is the most densely populated area and has a large number of small villages that feed into the area for shops, work and education. However, it's becoming very easy to miss out Cumnock for other areas to do your business, as not only does the road now bypass the town for major commuters with the major A76 infrastructure changes a few years ago, but the train line also bypasses the town. Is it now time for us to open this up for discussions with the community and local and national partners and turn it into action?

"It seems absurd that a town which has so much to offer can be so hard to get too. We encourage you to watch Disney Pixar movie ‘CARS’ which may well have been about Cumnock, as it describes perfectly the situation that we find ourselves in. Beautiful hotels, restaurants and local business eager to impress, but undiscovered and ignored because they cannot lure the customers in from the busy new roads trying to get people to the big city."

Cumnock Action Plan has identified the re-opening of the train station as one of the priorities for Cumnock and may be an answer to a lot of the town’s problems.

Cumnock Railway Station opened at the top of Barrhill Road, where the Bute House Nursing Home is now situated, in May 1850. With the line extended to link with that from Dumfries the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway Company merged with the Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Railway Company to form the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company in October 1850.

The station eventually closed in 1965.

There was also a second railway station in the town, the Cumnock New Station on the Ayr and Cumnock line which was opened in 1874 near the top of Glaisnock Street. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1951 and the line closed and was lifted in 1964.

Auchinleck station was reopened in 1984 and New Cumnock was re-opened in 1991.

The group now wants to bring to the public fore to try and judge the public appetite for Cumnock train station to re-open.

You can let your voice be heard by emailing the group at info@cumnockactionplan.org or by visiting www.cumnockactionplan.org. You can also find the Cumnock Action Plan on Facebook.

Alternatively, you can submit an entry to be published in the Cumnock Chronicle Letters Page.