Ashby rail campaigners say they are encouraged by the Government's intention to re-open two lines that have been closed since the 1960s.

They will be restored with £794million of new funding, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said £760 million would go towards reinstating services between Bicester, Oxfordshire, and Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, for the next phase of East West Rail.

It will be the first time trains have run between the two locations since 1968, reports LBC

Meanwhile, a smaller fund of £34 million will be invested in reopening the Northumberland Line between Newcastle and Ashington.

Services between the two stations were closed to passengers in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts, which aimed to increase the efficiency of the UK's nationalised railway systems.

Mr Shapps is also encouraging councils, MPs and community groups to submit bids for a share of the third and final round of the DfT's Ideas Fund, which was created to help plans for new routes and reinstatements.

The Campaign to Re-open The Ivanhoe Line says this is good news for its bid to get passenger trains running again between Burton and Leicester, with stations at Ashby and Moira.

A spokesman for CRIL said: "These two schemes are longstanding proposals that have been in the development stages for very many years.

"I believe the Ashington campaign has been running for over 15 years! They are therefore not part of the recent Restoring Your Railway Programme which we are part of.

"We are in the first wave of this process. We had a routine meeting with the DFT yesterday (Friday), and our submission is going well, and is clearly well thought of.

"I welcome the news about these two lines, as it shows the Government is serious about re opening lines like ours."