LONG-RUNNING plans for a new rail link to the south of Eastleigh will change the face of train travel in Hampshire.

Backers of the scheme to open the line - dubbed the Eastleigh Chord - say it will free more services for daytrippers and commuters and provide a huge boost to the economy.

Southampton Airport could see more than 75 extra services a day if the link is forged between the London-to-Southampton and the Eastleigh-to-Fareham lines.

Routes from both Wales and Brighton would be able to call at both Southampton Parkway and Central stations with no loss in journey time.

Possible freight links between Southampton and Portsmouth docks would also be opened up on the double track railway, which would scrap the need for trains to reverse at Eastleigh.

More light rail services could then be launched on the existing Fareham-to-Southampton route via Netley and Woolston.

Plans for the Eastleigh Chord, which have been sitting on the sidelines for the past 30 years, are being developed by rail and council transport bosses.

Hampshire County Council has flagged them up as a key part of its South Hampshire Rapid Transit scheme that will overhaul the whole public transport system.

A study carried out by the authority has shown the long-standing chord idea could be made a reality.

Head of transportation policy Tony Ciaburro said that, together with a dozen new initiatives, it would have a major impact on travel in the south of the county. He added: "The idea of the Eastleigh Chord has been bandied about for many years but it's only in the last five or six years that we have been crystallising our ideas on it as part of a new management system for public transport.

"We look at it as one piece in a very, very big puzzle. This plan provides a fresh look at how conventional rail is operated. There are a lot of issues surrounding it and it will not be cheap."

Alan Shotter, vice-chairman of the Rail Passengers' Committee for Southern England, said: "It is something we have been pushing for for more years than I can remember. If I could see it come through in my lifetime I would be a happy man."

But a spokeswoman for South West Trains said: "It's not likely to happen over the time of our franchise because it would be too expensive. The whole line would need to be resignalled and Railtrack does not have enough signal engineers to do that."

County transport chiefs are due to meet with the Strategic Rail Authority to discuss revamping south Hampshire's rail network over the next ten years.