GOVERNMENT ministers have been accused of sitting on a £100,000 report which could detonate the “long-term capacity time-bomb” of Sussex’s failing rail service.

Former chancellor George Osborne commissioned the viability study to add a second London line through Sussex to take the strain off the Brighton Main Line in April 2015.

It was initially hoped that the report would be published at the start of the year but even now the report has been finished, the Department of Transport (DfT) still refuses to give a date for its publication.

Hove MP Peter Kyle, who has been pressing the issue in Parliament, has called for the report to be made public within a matter of months.

Having allocated funds for the report in the 2015 budget, the government instructed consultants WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff to explore the viability of the long-mooted Brighton Main Line 2 alongside other options to improve capacity and meet ever growing demand on the route for the next 20 years.

As well as Brighton Main Line 2, the report will look into the possibility of reopening the Uckfield to Lewes line and the building of the Ashcombe tunnel beneath the South Downs.

That demand could grow substantially in upcoming years if permission is granted for a second runway at Gatwick.

Rail minister Paul Maynard told Mr Kyle in a written parliamentary response earlier this month that the study was now complete and the findings were being “carefully considered by ministers”.

The Blackpool North MP, who became rail minister in July, said the department remained committed to publishing the findings and MPs with constituencies along the study route would be notified.

Mr Kyle said: “We've had a new chancellor, new rail minister, and new government since they first promised this report, and still passengers suffer every day.

“As well as doing everything I can to get the current mess sorted I am pressing the Government to deal with the long-term capacity time-bomb that will explode onto the next generation of passengers if we don't get this right.

“I'm calling for this report to be released before Christmas at the very latest."

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas described the government response to her similar question on the study as “rubbish”.

A DfT spokeswoman said: “The Government will publish the London and South Coast Rail Corridor Study, and its response to the recommendations, in due course”.