Disused rail lines should be reopened to bring jobs and help alleviate traffic problems on the district's roads, a new report said today.

The influential Countryside Agency argues that disused railway lines could be used to expand the region's rail network.

It highlights six possible lines in the Bradford district, with up to 20 across Yorkshire and the Humber, that could reasonably be reused creating potential benefits for commuters and businesses alike.

The report will be sent to councils across the region, urging them not to allow new developments to destroy the old routes.

David Fanaroff, senior countryside officer with the Countryside Agency, said the routes were chosen for their potential benefits in economic, social and environmental terms.

"We need to start looking at how we offer people opportunities to get to all sorts of different places by rail," he said. "By building more dense networks and putting those lines back in use is how we can get people to use rail."

As well as developing rail networks in rural areas, the report highlights the advantages of linking Bradford's Forster Square and Interchange stations.

"That will start to open a lot more possibilities up for people," Mr Fanaroff said.

"It would also mean that we could get through-services, and places like Halifax and Hudders-field would be more accessible from the North of Bradford."

Tim Calow, chairman of Aire Valley Rail Users Group, said traffic problems in areas such as Skipton could be alleviated if there were more rail services.

"There is certainly a danger that visitors arriving in cars destroy what they are seeking, which is the tranquillity of the area," he said. And he added there was evidence to show that people were willing to use trains.

"The Aire Valley service between Skipton and Leeds and Bradford has shown an increase of ten per cent in patronage in the last five or six years and that shows what can be done with a high-quality train service," he said.

Shipley MP Chris Leslie, who set up the Aire Valley Public Transport Commission in 1999, said he was impressed by the Countryside Agency's 'blue sky' thinking in relation to future rail use.

"We've always got to raise our sights a little bit higher and not just look at the existing infrastructure and that is why I would be keen to look at all strategies and ideas," he said.

While today's report is an audit of possible routes, Councillor John Prestage, chairman of Bradford passenger consultative committee and Bradford's spokes-man on the West Yorkshire Passen-ger Authority, said its findings would be used when planning public transport for the future.

The routes highlighted for potential reopening in the Countryside Agency's report are: Skipton to Grassington, Embsay to Skipton, Skipton to Colne, Arthington to Otley to Menston, Bradford cross-city line, and Low Moor to Thornhill via Cleckheaton