CORNWALL county council committed £2million towards an improved rail link between Truro and Falmouth this week.

Colin Jarvis, the council's head of transport, said the £5m line would link the Eden Project near St Austell at one end and the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth at the other. He added it would provide a 30 minute rail link between Truro and Falmouth and help cut down traffic congestion on the busy A39. The upgrading would also cater for the growing number of students coming to the area.

Mr Jarvis said there was a lot of detailed work to do with Network Rail and the Strategic Rail Authority. However, the council hoped to know in six months time if it was viable.

He said: "This is not a scheme the rail industry would deliver, which is why the county council needs to take a lead role."

Mr Jarvis said the council needed to find funding from other sources - such as Objective One, transport grants and private developers in the Falmouth/Penryn area - for the scheme to go ahead.

Cornwall council portfolio holder for transport, Robert Hitchins said: "We are trying to jump start the whole scheme because it is very important to the expansion of Cornwall's university campus at Penryn."