THE new railway station for Ilkeston could be built as early as 2015, the Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin has revealed.
He said he would be "very surprised" if plans for the new station didn't go ahead.
Mr McLoughlin was speaking after a meeting yesterday where Ilkeston councillors, business people, and community leaders told him what the new station would mean for the town.
Nick Davies, manager of Jobcentre Plus, Ilkeston, said the centre was dealing with 1,600 unemployed people who would benefit from the new station, which would link the town to Sheffield and Nottingham.
He said regulations meant job-seekers had to search for work within a 90-minute commuting distance from their home.
Mr Davies said: "At the moment much of that can be taken up just with going to Nottingham. If it was a 15-minute journey away, that would open up the whole of Nottingham and the same for Sheffield."
Lorraine Clarke, company secretary for community group Action 4 Cotmanhay, said the station would open up opportunities for residents.
She said: "Cotmanhay is quite an insular community so it's really about making people aware that they can go further afield. They don't have to stay local."
Councillor Val Custance, who represents Ilkeston's Abbotsford ward on Erewash Borough Council, said the authority was working to introduce a minibus that would run up the town's Bath Street.
If plans are approved, the train station would be built off Coronation Road, and she said that the council was hoping to extend the bus route to include it once it is built.
Last month, Mr McLoughlin revealed Ilkeston was one of three stations likely to get cash from the Government's £20 million New Station Fund, though he did not reveal how much this was likely to be.
Yesterday, he said: "It was one of the top three bids so I will be very surprised if it's not done now. I'd hope to see the first train pull up in 2015.
"Obviously there's work that's got to be done and planning to go through."
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