A PLAN to expand and develop the port at Sheerness in Kent includes proposals for motor vehicles to be taken by train between Sheerness and Liverpool.

Sheerness currently handles around 1.3 million tonnes of cargo annually. Industry forecasts published today in a Master Plan by Peel Ports, the owners of Sheerness, suggest that this figure could increase by as much as 130 per cent over the next 20 years, creating up to 1,250 jobs.

The introduction of train services would depend on the construction of a railhead on redundant land close to the port which currently belongs to a rail-served steelworks. Local consulations will start in mid-November.