Consultants behind a review of the island’s heritage railways have been told to ‘adjust’ their report.

Emails released under Freedom of Information (FoI) show that the Department of Infrastructure has told consultants Systra to look again at its data and findings in its draft report.

The exchanges will only add to concerns expressed by supporters of the island’s railways that the report has been designed to close down sections of the surviving parts of the network.

The final version of the report is yet to be published.

The emails released under FoI reveal that DoI chief executive Emily Curphey wrote to Systra on November 22 setting out 15 points from the draft report that she wanted to be addressed.

She wrote: ‘We have considerable concerns regarding the conclusion that 15% of all tourists would reduce their stay on the island by one night should the rail service be withdrawn.’

Ms Curphey asked if alternative uses for assets had been considered if they were no longer required - ‘for example creating an active travel corridor, given the context of the pressures on public finances and the economy’.

Another email from December 6, from Emma Mills, a senior consultant at Systra, confirms a list of actions that arose from a meeting held between the two parties.

One of those actions include: ‘Closure assumptions need to reflect possible decisions. SYSTRA to adjust section closure narrative to include a cycle path replacement and be explicit that there is no assessment of the net effect of leisure spend from loss of passenger spend vs increase in cyclist spend.’

Systra agreed to ‘provide additional narrative around track renewal to highlight the likely reduction in spend profile in the medium-term’.

Ms Curphey also wanted to see more detail on costs for any potential commuter services, questioned whether Systra had fully complied with the terms of reference and asked for the names of all individuals who had been spoken to during the research for the report.