AN MP is demanding answers over fears a four-year opencast mining project could bring traffic dangers to local roads if proposed plans to build a rail link are not given the go-ahead.

Bolton West MP Ruth Kelly has joined the fight with residents in Over Hullton and Little Hulton to campaign for information regarding the mining scheme at the old Cutacre tip site.

Mining is due to start next spring despite a 20-year fight by residents to try to stop it. Developers UK Coal won planning permission on appeal.

A legal agreement was then signed which said some of the two million tonnes which will be dug out would be transported by rail.

But the BEN revealed the company was having difficulty getting Railtrack to install a connection from the site to the rail line between Atherton and Walkden and look set to transport all of the coal in the meantime by road.

No condition, says the company, has been imposed that requires the company to move coal by rail.

But Ms Kelly said the plans included an agreement to "obtain all necessary consents and authorisations" to construct a rail link and rail loading facility.

Residents are now furious they could be faced with trucks transporting the coal instead. The Over Hulton Anti-Opencast Group say they have been "left in the dark" over the rail link plans.

And Railtrack have said they cannot design work on the proposed link due to manpower and skills shortages.

In a letter to Trade and Industry secretary Stephen Byers MP, Ms Kelly said: "Consequently, Railtrack has indicated that they would not be in a position to commence the signalling needed to provide a connection until 2004 at the earliest."

Lorries are expected to use the roundabout on Salford Road taking the loads up the A6 to the motorway junction at Watergate Lane.

Ms Kelly added: "It was agreed that only 450,000 tonnes of coal were to be transported by road. A further 1,300,000 tonnes of coal would need to be transported by road if the rail link was not provided.

If this occurs, it would have a significant impact on the volume of traffic and also raise issues of highway safety. Given that the duration of the Cutacre development is for four years, any delay building the rail head and link coal disposal facility would have severe implications."