FOOTFALL at Inverclyde's biggest train stations has bounced back after Covid travel restrictions - but still remain below pre-pandemic levels.

New statistics released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) show local train usage is getting back on track after falling by as much as 94 percent at some stations during the first wave of the virus.

Inverkip station, which last year saw the sharpest decline in footfall, saw the largest percentage improvement in 2021/22, up 84.5 percent from the previous year's figure of 6,114 passengers.

The number of passengers at Woodhall, Drumfrochar and Bogston also grew by 80 percent or more.

The area's busiest station, Port Glasgow, had 258,990 visitors, a significant improvement on the previous year's total but still well below the 2019/20 total of 518,420 entries and exits.

Gourock had the largest increase in terms of actual passengers after welcoming 186,804 visitors through its doors, while Bogston saw the smallest increase with 13,114.

Port Glasgow, Gourock, Greenock West, Greenock Central and Wemyss Bay all recorded six figure passenger numbers totals, having slumped to five figures the year before.

Scottish Labour's shadow transport secretary Neil Bibby welcomed the resurgence in the use of the area's railways expressed concern about the failure to reach pre-pandemic levels.

The Wes of Scotland list MSP said: “I’m concerned by these figures.

"It’s good to see an improvement on last year, of course, but train use is not recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

"That is a step in the wrong direction, and requires concerted action from the Scottish Government.

"I fear cutting services by 10 percent, as they have done this year, will only create a downward spiral.

"We need to get people back on our railways and for that we need an affordable and good-quality service.

"We should follow the example of other countries and reduce fares in the short-term to get people back in the habit of taking the train.

"Labour is calling for a freeze in rail fares and even halving them for a three-month period to make travelling by train possible for people during the cost-of-living crisis.”