Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Hyndburn Cabinet met when the Portfolio Holder for Asset Management presented a report, which recommended the sale of 700 square metres of former railway land off Charter Street to the existing tenant, and it was resolved that the sale of the Council’s freehold on this land would be agreed on the terms and conditions of this sale. Having already announced that European funding had been secured for the construction of a new railway station somewhere in close proximity to the Whitebirk/Greenbank Estates, council officers were being told to ‘hang on’! Apparently they had made no approaches to the Strategic Rail Authority for the requisite permission to have trains stop there. The SRA in turn had stated that this had not been included in the terms of the contract signed recently with the operator Serco/Ned Rail, who were due to take over the operations on the East Lancashire line in early December. In a statement the SRA said, “It was not as simple as just requiring trains to stop at a station. In any case we would have to establish that there is a sound business case, for proof that it was both practical and economical to have it included in the timetable would be required before we sanctioned it”. The officer in charge of regeneration for Blackburn had defended the case for establishing the new facility, stating it to be “a vital piece in the strategy to regenerate the area, by attracting in new businesses and industry”. It was hoped to have the station built and operational during 2008. At a meeting held on Tuesday the 30 th , at Oswaldtwistle Mills hosted by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships, an organisation concerned with as its name suggests, promoting involvement between the public and civic groups and the railway operators, in attendance were officials from First North Western Trains, Lancashire County Council and of course ACRP itself, and was the third and final meeting of its kind to take place. The first two had been held in West Lancashire and Colne respectively. The object of these meetings was explained in the opening remarks, was to listen to any ideas that might be put forward on how to promote and improve rail services and stations through East Lancashire. For this purpose the attendees would be split into two discussion groups, those with a specific interest in a particular project, and those with a more general interest. But first the floor was open to any comments. This was an opportunity to state the case for a holistic approach to transport. Letting the buses do what they do best, and the trains do what they do best, but running complementary to one another rather than in competition. It was also pointed out that by linking the proposed bus station for Accrington with improvements to the Railway Station was more likely to attract the necessary investment. This again would be most beneficial to both modes of transport, and my attendance at this meeting was primarily to promote this issue. These comments met with general approval, as some of the officers had already been involved in integrated schemes of this nature, Carnforth Connect being the one cited in the Chairman’s response. A group in the audience had attended solely for the purpose of discussing improvements to Rishton’s Railway Station, and when split up they left a smaller group to look at more general issues. Several points were raised. One lady was concerned with the difficulty of arranging and accompanying groups of disabled people on train journeys. One gentleman suggested that the North Lancashire Avoiding Line, (better known as the Harwood Loop Line) should be reinstated, but this was dismissed as totally impractical. It did however, allow the suggestion to be made that in future even if the lines were closed the trackbed should be left intact and not built upon. This would allow their reuse should at some time another form of transport be substituted. This brought the discussion onto ‘Light Rapid Transits’, or to give them their more usual name of trams. The poor state of Accrington Railway Station and the limited access to the facilities such as they are, were accepted by all sides of the meeting. Some of the improvements suggested during the town centre walk that took place at the invitation of the John Thompson Agency on Thursday, April 22 nd , last were passed on to ACRP. These included having access from a foyer and ticket office at street level on Blackburn Road. The issue of the public’s perception of safety when travelling and waiting for trains was also discussed. A copy of the 2003 voice-box survey carried out by Hyndburn Council, as a follow up to a similar exercise during 2000 was handed over. This aroused quite a good deal of interest, they requested permission to take this sheet away with them for future reference. At a presentation by the East Lancashire Partnership’s Nick Briggs, to the Institute of Transport & Logistics in January last, there was disappointment that the LRT had been watered down to nothing more than a guided busway. This despite the fact that all the blurb and talk had been about what was quite

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