REOPENING the passenger railway line from Ebbw Vale to Newport is an "urgent priority", the under secretary of state for Wales has stressed.

Don Touhig, who is MP for Islwyn, also said that Newport is the natural city destination for passenger trains from Ebbw Vale.

He spoke of his support for the Argus' high-profile Get Us Back on Track campaign, which we launched four months ago and which is calling for the Ebbw Vale to Newport line to reopen in 2005 - at the same time as the line to Cardiff instead of two years later.

Railtrack has said the line to Newport cannot be reopened before 2007 at the earliest, because of signalling problems and a shortage of skilled signalling engineers.

Mr Tou-hig was speaking after a meeting with Sue Essex, the National Assembly's minister for environment, planning and transport, last week.

"I welcome the tens of millions of pounds in funding to reopen the Ebbw line to passengers," he said.

"We agree that is an urgent priority. It's important that we have got rail links up and down the valley and it's essential that this line is reopened.

"Newport is the natural city destination for the new trains, a point I was able to reinforce in discussions today with my colleagues in the Assembly.

"We talked about how technical problems with the Newport link, such as problems with signals, can be overcome, so that trains can go to Newport as soon as possible."

Mr Touhig added the Strategic Rail Authority said that the signalling problems could take up to seven years to fix.

"I remain to be convinced that this is the case. There is no evidence that it will take this length of time. I will be discussing the issue with the Strategic Rail Authority in the near future.

"I commend the Argus in pressing this case, one that I and my colleague have consistently supported."

Blaenau Gwent Assembly Member Peter Law, who has been fighting for the line to be reopened for more than a decade, last week stressed his commitment to getting the line to Newport reopened as soon as possible.