Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

objectives had included better lighting. A Transport Working Group was to be set up to look at transport related issues relevant to Accrington town centre, and it was recommended that someone from ACRP should be involved in that group, as they seemed to have some expertise in these matters. As no-one from the Board or any of the Council’s own officers were present at that December meeting, reports would be forwarded to them, so that they would know exactly what had transpired in relation to improvements to railway facilities in Hyndburn. It seemed as though another new body was to be formed to oversee the railways in our area. An amalgamation of Blackburn (with) Darwen unitary Council, Lancashire County Council and the elusive East Lancashire Partnership was to form the East Lancashire Railway Partnership. They would work alongside and with the Association of Community Rail Partnerships, to set up groups who would have a role in overseeing the services and infrastructure on behalf of their local communities. February The public/private initiative at Church & Oswaldtwistle Railway Station had been so successful that the ‘Railways Officer’ for Lancashire County Council, was looking to repeat the formula at three other stations on the East Lancashire Line. Colne and Rose Grove were two, and the other was Rishton Station in Hyndburn. Since the installation of CCTV cameras at the ‘Ossy’ Mills sponsored station, incidents of antisocial behaviour and vandalism had declined and passenger numbers were up by 5%. These improvements had been linked to the Association of Community Rail Partnerships who would bid for government money to fund further initiatives. The copy of the report on the proceedings of the meeting held in December, would take another two months to prepare. Not all the news on the railway front was good however. Up until now when a train’s automatic door control or its passenger alarm system fails, the train had been taken out of service at the next station stop. From now on the train would be allowed to continue in service for the rest of the day, or until it was taken off service for attention. It was felt more advantageous to keep the train in service rather than to dump its passengers in remote locations. The Train Operating Company, Northern, said that passenger safety would not be compromised, but the Rail, Maritime & Transport Union thought otherwise. The Union believed that the rules on whether or not a train is unfit to remain in service had been changed to allow TOCs to avoid paying delayed travellers any compensation. With 80 physical assaults and 60 verbal assaults reported on staff during 2004, the Northern franchise was now wiring their train conductors for sound. The microphones would be disguised as badges and could be activated by staff if and when they felt threatened. It was a device, which had been used by Northern’s parent company in Holland with some success. This move pleased the RMT, who were growing increasingly concerned by the amount of abuse their members were facing. Darwen Railway Station apparently had the worst record for acts of vandalism and antisocial behaviour in the North West region. April At a meeting of Hyndburn Cabinet, the Portfolio Holder for Culture & Leisure reported that work on the three missing links of the National Cycleway in Hyndburn had now been completed, including the section of former Railway from Platt’s Lodge to Baxenden, and from Star Street in Church to Accrington Railway Station. Although it is some twenty miles distant by rail, work on upgrading the West Coast Main Line around Preston would have a knock-on effect on train services through East Lancashire. On three Saturdays in April, the 16 th , 23 rd and 30 th , and every Sunday up until June 5 th , all ‘local’ services between Colne and Blackpool South, and Trans-Pennine services to and from Blackpool North would be affected. All trains travelling in a westerly direction would terminate at Blackburn, with buses conveying passengers on to intermediate stations between there and the coast and vice-versa. May The Association of Community Rail Partnerships had just published the report it promised after the series of meetings held late in 2004. There were no revelations contained within it, nor were there any promises of extra funding. What it said was all perfectly predictable. That all interested parties should come together to form a “steering group”, which would then formulate an action plan. The interested parties so far named were Lancashire County Council, The East Lancashire Partnership and Blackburn (with) Darwen unitary Council, along of course with the Northern Rail franchise, which now operated all the passenger services through East Lancashire. It was noted that Hyndburn Council was not included on this list, and this was a matter to be raised at the next town centre regeneration board meeting, which due to the general election has been postponed until Thursday, June 16 th , next. It did seem however, that the

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