A decision will be taken on whether plans for new railway stations at Somerton and Langport will be taken forward before the end of the year.

Both towns were served by trains on the line between Taunton and Castle Cary before their stations were closed in the mid-1960s during the infamous Beeching cuts.

Funding for a feasibility study into a new station to serve both communities was agreed in May 2021, with South Somerset District Council and local parish and town councils providing funding on top of a £50,000 grant from central government.

More than a year on from this funding announcement, the district council and Langport Transport Group (LTG) have now confirmed the outcome of the study will be known later in the year.

However, both parties refused to state whether additional funding from the new unitary Somerset Council would be needed for the project to proceed.

The feasibility study – officially known as the strategic outline business case (SOBC) – was completed and submitted to the Department for Transport (DfT) in March 2022.

The study was completed under the guidance of a steering group, which included members from the county and district councils, Network Rail, Great Western Railway (GWR), the Heart of the South West local enterprise partnership (LEP), the DFT and the LTG.

The study is understood to have identified two possible locations for a new station – one in Somerton, and one near Langport.

In a joint statement, the district council and LTG said: "Options were provided regarding possible sites of a new railway station with two particular sites identified for consideration, one in Somerton and one near Langport.

"All the sites considered had various strengths and weaknesses, but it was not in the brief of the SOBC to identify any particular site rather that an economic, social and environmental case be made for locating a station in the Langport and Somerton area."

Both of Langport's original railway stations have seen been redeveloped, with the Langport West site becoming the Westover trading estate and the Langport East site being redeveloped into new homes.

Somerton's original station lay down Station Path near the town centre, with the only evidence of its existence today being a 350-metre long siding.

The DfT was originally due to rule on the SOBC by the summer, but a decision is now expected later this year.

The council and LTG stated: "We have recently been informed by the DfT that the SOBC is currently being considered by the transport secretary and the rail ministers involved.

"We had originally been told that a decision was due to be made during the summer, but our understanding is that this has been delayed and we will not hear the outcome until later in 2022.

"At this stage, it is not possible to comment on whether funding will be required from the new unitary authority should the project proceed.

"Likewise, given the current situation there is no target date set for the opening of a station in the Langport and Somerton area."

This scheme is not the only prospect of rail services being restored to a part of Somerset which lost out during the Beeching axe.

Somerset West and Taunton Council submitted a joint bid with Mid Devon District Council in May 2021 to reopen stations at Wellington and Cullompton, which lie on the mainline between Bristol and Exeter.

This bid received a £5M boost in the government's autumn budget in October 2021, allowing the final business case to be fully funded, with the project now being taken forward by Network Rail.