A FORGOTTEN rail service is to be axed - after failing to pick up a single passenger for 14 years.

Rail chiefs have announced plans to close the station where the “ghost train” starts its daily 45-minute run.

1 The forgotten train from Newhaven Marine Station to Brighton kept running for 14 years despite failing to pick up a single passenger

They have launched a three-month public consultation exercise, even though the building and platforms were demolished nearly three years ago.

“But last night rail-users branded the move a “farce” and demanded to know why time and money was being wasted.

Newhaven Marine station, in East Sussex, is still legally open, even though it has been closed to passengers since 2006 over safety concerns.

Every weekday, a gleaming train pulls out of the seaside halt on time, stopping at seven other stations on its way to Brighton.

Fares for the 20-mile journey have been advertised but it is not possible to buy tickets or board the train.

The bizarre service was kept running to fulfill the legal obligations of an “open” station.

'A FARCE'

It ran like clockwork at 8.15pm on weekdays as the station building crumbled, its canopy collapsed and the platforms were overgrown with weeds.

Network Rail carried out a cost assessment and decided fixing the site would be poor value for money - so the station was demolished in May 2017.

Ministers are now seeking feedback on proposals to close the station and use the track as a siding for berthing trains.

Cash saved would be spent on improving other rail services and supporting regeneration for the area.

But former transport minister Norman Baker said: “What a farce. This station was demolished years ago. Has the Department for Transport only just noticed?"

“If we all reply to the consultation to say we want the station to stay, are they going to rebuild it?” He quipped: “I suppose they could always leave it as it is and rename it Newhaven Rubble.”

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Network Rail said: “The process is underway permanently to close the station and we have been looking at other uses for the site."

"The long term aspiration is for the site to be used as a freight facility and this process is underway. We did not want to formally close the station until an alternative railway use could be found.”

A Transport Department spokesman explained: “While the station is not in use, it cannot be closed until the statutory process, as set out in the Railways Act 2005, is completed.”

Train that had the windows smashed by a huge wave