People have welcomed plans to create a £58.8million Mid Cornwall Metro scheme, which aims to transform how residents travel across Cornwall.

Hundreds of residents, business owners and visitors have attended a public consultation held at the Victoria Hotel in Newquay on Friday and Saturday.

Residents are looking forward to seeing more frequent trains along the route between Newquay, St Austell, Truro, and Falmouth/Penryn, which they believe will open up opportunities for education, training and employment.

Others believe the Mid Cornwall Metro will encourage people to take the train rather than drive their cars, which will help reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and alleviate traffic congestion.

Visitors to the public consultation were able to take a virtual reality balloon ride to ‘see’ for themselves how the scheme, funded by Cornwall Council and £50m of government Levelling Up Funding, will create a sustainable transport corridor through central Cornwall.  

They were able to view a proposed second platform at Newquay, which will mean trains between Newquay and Par will double to hourly, a new passing loop at Goss Moor so local and national rail services can pass each other and operate together, seven days a week, all year round. 

They were also able to see the improvements at Par station with a new accessible footbridge, lift and interchange.

There will be better facilities outside Penryn Station, with improved footpaths and cycle routes to make it easier to access the University campus.

Access to Penryn town centre via Commercial Road, will see pedestrians given priority with three zebra crossings and a segregated cycle route to provide cyclists with a safer journey. 

Read more in next week’s Voice Newspaper.