Protesters expressed "overwhelming" opposition to plans to replace a train service with a bus running on concrete rails.

More than 65 people attended a meeting of campaigners hoping to keep the Abbey Flyer rail service held at Bricket Wood Social Club on July 6.

Hertfordshire County Council wants to replace the direct rail link between St Albans and Watford with two parallel concrete busways.

The scheme is known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the council says it includes other improvements.

Terry Oliver of rail operator London Midland told the meeting the line continued to be one of the most punctual routes on its network, with performance at 99.6 per cent in the last period compared with 83.2 per cent on its London Euston mainline service.

Questions then arose about current ticket sales figures not reflecting the true usage of the line, revenue collection, train capacity, cleanliness and presentation.

Mr Oliver said he expected an extra ticket inspector to be appointed by late August or early September this year.

Hertfordshire County Council's executive member for environment, planning and transport Cllr Derrick Ashley, safe and sustainable journeys manager Trevor Mason and strategic rail officer Liz Drake also spoke about the draft Hertfordshire Rail Strategy and its consultation.

Mr Mason explained the new rail strategy was conceived as primarily an "advocacy document", its principal role being to specify "conditional outputs" and short, medium and long-term priorities for the rail network in Hertfordshire, against which funders such as Network Rail and the Department for Transport were encouraged to deliver.

As such, he said it was not a detailed plan or commitment to deliver.

But resident Kevin Ambrose summed up the feeling of the meeting by saying although the concept of ‘conditional outputs’ was logical and to be welcomed, many people felt disappointed the county council was leaving the delivery side to rail industry partners, without much evidence of leadership.

After the meeting, David Horton, from the Abbey Flyer Users’ Group, said: “We gained a lot of positive support for our campaign.

“From this we will carry on with the push to improve the existing rail service in the short term, such as bringing back late evening trains, trying out through services and enhancing the frequency.

“Our next project is to conduct some widespread and detailed market research in an attempt to quantify the demand for these improvements.”

The consultation is open until August 4 and the final report will be published towards the end of 2015.

People are encouraged to have their say on the plans via the HCC website, at http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/transtreets/railconsultation/