Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

2004 January On Thursday the 8 th , I was invited to attend a presentation given at the East Lancashire Partnership’s suite of offices located within the Globe Centre in Accrington. This was to members of the Institute of Transport, and was made on behalf of the Partnership by their Director of Transport Mr Nick Briggs. The subject of this talk was the Partnership’s vision for the future of transport in East Lancashire, and I was invited along because of my specific interest in the implications for Hyndburn. Founded in 1999 the background of the Partnership was explained, and also its objectives. It has concluded that all the social, economic, health, housing, and employment issues can be positively influenced by improvements to the transport system. This is a well-known and universally accepted theory, which is usually put forward as an incentive to attract new investment. A question concerned itself with the findings of the survey commissioned by Hyndburn Council during 2003. This was a repeat of a similar poll taken in 2000, to gauge the public’s perception of how safe it was to travel on public transport. The categories ranged from how safe did the public feel travelling on trains during the day right down to how safe did they feel waiting for a train in the evening, ( after dark ). In every category barring two that showed no change, and one which showed a slight increase, the public’s perception of how safe it was using public transport had diminished. In the category entitled how safe did the public feel waiting for a train in the evening, the response was an alarmingly low 22% down 3% from 2000. There are four railway stations in Hyndburn, three of which are unmanned and one, Accrington, which was attended during the week up until 15:30. I put forward the theory that increasing services and the quality of the vehicles on both rail and road would have only a minimal affect whilst the public’s perception of how safe it is to travel on public transport was in decline. So what was the Partnership doing to restore confidence? I was told that the initiative at Church & Oswaldtwistle Station funded by the nearby Ossy Mills and patrolled by local residents in a neighbourhood watch style operation, had met with some success. But on the whole these were “social issues” and again not within the scope of the Partnership. It seems obtaining finance is a piece of cake in Chorley. Having recently opened a brand new bus station, a further £450,000 is to be spent on bringing facilities on the nearby railway station up to scratch. The upgrading will include a new booking hall, a spruced up facade and platform furniture. Besides CCTV surveillance there will be better heating and lighting. All this is the result of a partnership between Chorley Borough Council, Lancashire County Council, the Strategic Rail Authority and the company with responsibility for carrying out the work, First North Western. No disrespect to Chorley, but what has it got that Accrington hasn’t? Perhaps a council with a vision of the future and a determination to make things happen for their town. It would also seem that funding for future developments will be coming from Public/Private Partnerships (PPP’s), and certain of the interested parties have already been consulted with regard to holding stakes in those projects. March 2004, would see the commencement of regeneration plans when two more studies will be launched, the East Lancashire Railway Feasibility Study and the Street Transit Feasibility Study. Hopefully data from both will be utilised to improve public transport throughout the region. On the railway several options had already been discussed. These including increasing the frequency of trains on both the north to south Bolton – Clitheroe corridor and the Preston – Colne east west corridor to four per hour, Although it was accepted that it would not be possible to carry this level of service beyond Bolton and into Manchester. Between Pleasington and Colne it had already been established that 80% of all passengers boarded at just four stations, but despite this no fewer than eleven new sites for stations had been identified! No mention was made of the Trans-Pennine rail services in this presentation, so one must assume that they were outside the remit of this study. February The local campaign group The Skipton - East Lancashire Rail Action Group, have had a huge boost towards getting the Colne to Skipton line reinstated. This line closed to all traffic on February 2 nd , 1970, leaving Colne Station out on a limb as the eastern terminus of the East Lancashire Line’s local Blackpool South services. Colne was in railway terms a frontier station as before the grouping of 1923, it was where the Midland Railways tracks met end on with those of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company. In the early years of ‘nationalisation’ ( and my youth ) when Accrington was a busy junction, a substantial number of services ran from Preston and Manchester Victoria through Colne to Skipton. Now a report by the Rail Passenger Committee - North West, recommending that the section of line be

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