Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

the electrification of the Manchester - Preston - Blackpool line and in replacement of the obsolete rolling stock, the need for which cannot be overstated. GENERAL FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS 3·5·1 It is apparent that BR is facing a period of great financial difficulty, due to a combination of inflation and a loss of revenue due to an economic recession. 3·5·2 similarly, local authorities are becoming increasingly constrained by Central Government in the level of revenue expenditure they can give whether by grant, or rate-borne and in capital expenditure by allocation for County services as a whole. 3·5·3 It is necessary therefore in this Strategy, to be restrained in both the proposals and their timing and to be realistic in the proposals for funding. In general LCC will be looking to Central Government to maintain BR’s network of local services, but in the areas defined later, the County Council may be able to offer some financial assistance. 3·5·4 One area in which practical reality and financial restraint combines, is that of reinstating services where the tracks have been lifted. The County Council has not supported any extension or restitution of tracks from the past railway network, but it does support the best use of the existing infrastructure, and is opposed to any further reductions. EXISTING PASSENGER SERVICE RECORD 4·1 This section examines BR’s record on past services in Lancashire in terms of trends and past loadings. 4·2 Details of cancellations over a 9 week period in late 1981 to early 1982 are in Table (1). The main cancellations have been due to mechanical failures which emphasises the poor condition of the rolling stock, particularly DMUs and the urgent need for them to be replaced as soon as possible. As regards local services, punctuality is subject to the necessity for these trains to provide connections to the Inter City services. 4·3 Although in the early months of 1980, the trend in loading on local services was upward, from May to the end of the year and onwards into 1981 this situation was reversed. A major factor in this decline in rider-ship has been the economic recession but no doubt the deteriorating standard of the DMUs has also had a negative effect. The following illustrates the fall in passenger journeys in 1980 in comparison with 1979, whilst the second clearly demonstrates that on the Preston - Colne Section, it failed to increase at the same extent as the national average of + 7%. Blackpool South  Preston  Colne = 1,213,000 journeys in 1979. Blackpool South  Preston  Colne = 1,152,350 journeys in 1980 (- 5%). FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 5·1 Deals with any future electrification of the West Coast Mainline, beyond Preston to Carlisle and Glasgow. 5·2·1 Deals with additional projects from electrification including, Preston  Blackpool North, via Kirkham and Poulton-le-Fylde and Preston  Euxton Junction  Manchester Victoria via Chorley and Bolton. 5·2·2 Deals with the removal of the necessity to have to change locomotives in Preston from electric traction to diesel and vice-versa. 5·2·3 Although it had been rumoured that the Bolton  Blackburn section had been included in an electrification programme, BR has no plans for its inclusion. 5·2·4 It was stated that the Authorities would at some stage in the near future wish to see the East Lancs Line (Preston  Blackburn  Colne) added to the list of lines radiating out of Preston to be electrified. PASSENGER ROLLING STOCK - LOCAL SERVICES 5·3·1 Much has been said by User Groups and Authorities about the condition of the Diesel Multiple Unit rolling stock operating on local services. These trains are virtually life-expired, many at 20 plus years old and therefore beyond their expected design life. There is a programme of refurbishment of this fleet, but for various reasons this has progressed slowly and the North West Region has seen few of these modernised carriages. In any event this does not overcome the inherent problems of age. Previously reliance has been made of the ‘cascade’ effect of modernisation, whereby as DMUs were replaced by EMUs (Electric Multiple Units) they were released. It was intended that this at least would permit withdrawal of the older rolling stock. But delays in progressing electrification have slowed this process and replacement of these life-expired DMUs has not yet commenced. This Rail Strategy places the substitution of this rolling stock as the first priority for capital investment, along with the electrification of the Manchester  Preston  Blackpool line. The latter would ease the problems of DMUs by releasing

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