TWO specialist reports into the railfreight project each ignore the extra passenger trains that will be running down the St Albans line once the Thameslink project is complete, Helioslough's planning consultant has agreed.

The council's rail expert said that even if there is enough space on the line to accommodate freight trains and passenger trains, the former would delay the latter as they crossed the slow tracks entering and leaving the Park Street railfreight terminal.

Countering this, Mr Gallup quoted two technical reports concluding there was no conflict, one completed for the first enquiry and another for the current hearing.

But under cross-examination, he admitted: “They did not deal with the Thameslink programme because it had not been approved at that stage.

“They dealt with the timetable in force at the time."

The Thameslink improvement programme is designed to allow 12 passenger trains an hour to use the tracks off-peak in each direction, up from the current figure of eight an hour.

Mr Reed scored another point by comparing the 2009 timetable with 2008, showing that several trains had more stops, reducing spare track capacity still further.