RAIL passengers are demanding that extra trains from Matlock to Nottingham stop at two stations not currently included in the timetable.

Earlier this year, East Midlands Trains introduced an hourly service on the Derwent Valley line – but seven of the 17 trains do not stop at Cromford or Whatstandwell.

The company says the move was needed to ensure the extra trains run on time to help them meet tough punctuality targets.

But passengers have reacted angrily to the changes, so Cromford Parish Council has met with the train company to raise concerns.

Parish councillor Derek Roose said so far the talks had proved fruitless.

The 70-year-old said: "It's like banging your head against a brick wall. When the changes were announced in January and the new hourly trains were not going to stop in Cromford quite a few people were upset.

"The two journeys, the one which stops at Cromford and Whatstandwell, and the one which sails straight through them take exactly the same time.

"I can see the benefits of the new service but a lot of tourists use these two stations as a gateway to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. They are popular stops."

Previously, trains had run between Matlock and Derby every other hour but the route was increased to run to Nottingham, via Derby, and the frequency of trains changed to every hour.

But Whatstandwell and Cromford stations are only served every two hours during off-peak times.

West Derbyshire MP Patrick McLoughlin said he would do what he could to include the two stations in the hourly service.

He said: "I would like to see the service stop where it should. Cromford has the Arkwright Mills and is visited by many people. I would agree that stopping at those two stations does not take a huge amount of extra time so I can't see why they would be cut out.

"I would like to see regular hourly services put in place by the summer and will support a campaign to get that done."

An East Midlands Trains spokeswoman said the amount of passengers using the route had increased by 29%.

She said that the company had to hit a target of 90.4% of trains being on time.

She added that the two stations had not been included in many of the new services to make sure the additional trains were reliable and ran on time.

She said: "The timetables are drawn up months in advance so we will not be able to make any changes by the summer.

"Currently, passengers travelling from Cromford and Whatstandwell benefit from 10 direct services a day to Nottingham. We have received feedback on our decision not to provide an hourly service from Cromford and Whatstandwell, and have committed to keeping this under review for the future."