A Somerset MP has urged the new government to back long-awaited proposals to restore rail services to a key part of rural Somerset.

The towns of Langport and Somerton were originally served by trains on the Taunton to Castle Cary line, but their stations were closed in the 1960s during the infamous Beeching cuts.

Funding for a feasibility study into a new station to serve both communities was agreed in May 2021, with South Somerset District Council and local parish and town councils providing funding on top of a £50,000 grant from central government.

This study (known as a strategic outline business case, or SOBC) was put together by the Langport Transport Group and was submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in February 2022 – but the government has not provided any update since July 2022.

Sarah Dyke repeatedly pressed the government for updates following her victory in the Somerton and Frome by-election in July 2023, including a direct challenge to then-prime minister Rishi Sunak during prime minister’s questions in March.

Following her re-election as MP for the new Glastonbury and Somerton constituency, Ms Dyke had written to new transport secretary Louise Haigh MP demanding an urgent update.

Ms Dyke – who also represents the Blackmoor Vale division on Somerset Council – made the new station a key plank of her election campaign, arguing at a hustings event held in Langport that it would bring multiple economic benefits to the local area.

She said: “I know how much this train station matters to the people of Langport and Somerton.

“In my final week in parliament in May, I presented a petition in the House of Commons calling for the DfT to provide an urgent update to the Langport Transport Group and move the proposed station forward.

“Then, as soon as I was back in Westminster, I made it a priority to get in touch with the secretary of state for transport and request a meeting.”

Two potential sites for new railway station were identified within the SOBC – one on Ricksey Lane at the southern edge of Somerton, and one on the A372 Wincanton Road near Huish Episcopi Academy.

Ms Dyke continued: “A new station for the Somerset Levels would give more than 50,000 people easy access to the rail network, provide a much-needed boost to the local economy and reduce our reliance on cars.

“I’m committed to doing everything I can to make the proposed station a reality and I’m continuing to campaign on this issue.

“People in the Langport and Somerton area deserve an update from the new government and I hope to meet with the secretary of state for transport very soon to discuss the project with her.”

David Northey, an ex-planner with Network Rail, said lessons could be learned from the upcoming delivery of the new Wellington railway station to ensure one of the sites could come to fruition.

He said: “There are a number of schemes just sitting there, waiting for a decision.

“It’s possible to build in either station, engineering-wise, but what’s obvious is that there isn’t the right train service at the moment to serve a station – that is the sticking point.

“That doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen – Wellington and Cullompton didn’t have the train service until people started to think about how they could create it, working with GWR to extend their Cardiff trains through to Exeter.

“The same sort of discussions need to be had about how we create a train service for Langport and Somerton – you need to look at it as a corridor, as connecting Frome to Taunton.

“If you look at it that way, you can create a Somerset network that is more available for intermediate journeys.”