Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

stewardship of Rishton Railway Station would be placed in the hands of the Rishton Prospects Panel, who petitioned for this at the December meeting. There were reservations about moves such as the ones highlighted in this report. The first was that if the so-called professionals needed the assistance of community groups and members of the public to tell them what was required, then they were failing to do their jobs satisfactorily. The second was that there prevailed a tremendous amount of indifference and apathy on behalf of communities and individuals to matters such as transport. That is of course until it was usually too late! Having been returned to Westminster as the Member of Parliament for Hyndburn, we waited to hear the viewpoint from further up the political scale so to speak, even though Mr Greg Pope had not yet reached the dizzy heights of Cabinet. In a recent interview on several topics of political intention, the subject of ‘local’ transport although not at the top of the agenda, was never the less covered. On the services available to train travellers, he felt that there should be more investment in rolling stock, and more destinations served ‘directly’ by trains which passed through Accrington. On the subject of the rapid transit system he had no comment to make, but this just confirmed the prospect of one was now a non starter. On Saturday the 21 st , Fraser Eagle was called in to transport St James’ day trippers on from Blackburn Railway Station to Bamber Bridge and Preston. This was due to the late running of the 40 th Day Tripper special excursion returning from Peterborough and Lincoln, which left them without an onward connection. Fortunately the train, topped-and-tailed by 47:851 and 47:826 had made it as far as Accrington albeit over an hour late! There was more good news on the Fraser Eagle front, as the Company had just won the contract to provide services to the Association of Train Operating Companies. This would require them to make the sometimes complicated arrangements on behalf of their client, (ATOC.) This included rail and air ticket purchasing and hotel accommodation. This was one of the fastest growing sectors in Fraser Eagle’s portfolio, and is handled by a team of highly trained staff. The department was open twenty-four hours each day, to instantly react to the immediate needs of a train operating customer. June It was now possible that Northern Trains would reverse their decision not to use Platform 1 on the refurbished Blackburn Railway Station after all! They had stuck to using the uncovered Platform 4 on the premise that the crossovers on the approaches to the covered platforms slowed trains too much. Now due to a concerted effort over a six month period by the ‘revenue protection officers’ (ticket inspectors), it has been noticed that ticket sales have increased by a significant 13.2%. The reason for this upturn has been put down not to more people travelling, but less fare dodging. At busy times people have been boarding trains on Platform 4, and alighting before the guard/conductor has been able to reach them with his ticket machine. Platform 4, which handled all trains travelling west from Accrington, had no ticket facilities, the new ticket office being situated on the main platforms. This entailed honest passengers coming up from the subway to purchase a ticket, going back down the ramp along the subway again and back up to platform level to catch a train. As a result of this design flaw and sometimes due to lack of adequate time, many just weren’t bothering to pre-purchase their tickets. Soon a large new car park would be opened on the reclaimed sidings on the far side of the station with direct access to Platform 4, encouraging even more ‘customers’ to risk avoiding purchasing a ticket. This could increase the possibility of ‘bilking’, the legal term for deliberate fare dodging. Blackburn (with) Darwen Unitary Council had already tried to use the planning conditions to force the train operating company to use the covered platforms, but with no success. A spokesman for the Rail Passengers’ Council had said that he hopes the experience gained from this exercise would convince the train operator to “see sense and use Platforms 1 and 2 as they were meant to be used. This would allow passengers greater comfort, and give them more incentive to buy tickets”. No doubt the proven loss of revenue would be the most significant factor in persuading Northern Trains to think again. Mr Bill Huntley was asked, if he had contacted the Association of Community Rail Partnerships who had produced their report following the series of meetings held towards the end of 2004. This had been suggested at the January meeting of the Town Centre Regeneration Board Meeting. He said he had, but no response had been forthcoming. There was extreme disappointment with this organisation. At the conclusion of the December 4 th meeting, they had taken the names of anyone who wished to receive a

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