Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

Monday the 16 th , and was repaired by early afternoon on Wednesday the 18 th , having been traced to a 100 meter long section of cable in Accrington. A spokesman for the train operating company Northern Rail said they had found difficulty in finding enough spare road vehicles to cover for the loss of trains. “Most of the local operators run schools and scheduled services” he said. At last a Government Minister has spoken out about the state of East Lancashire’s railways. Lord Davies has had to agree that rail travel in our region is “not up to standard”. Railway watchdogs had told him that the line through East Lancashire was one of fifty under threat of closure unless more investment was made in rolling stock and infrastructure. Having praised the work done to upgrade the main line running through Preston, the Minister has said that it is time that this success was extended to other lines. He also acknowledged that he was awaiting the review of the Northern franchise with “baited breath”, as it was possible that it could recommend cuts to services between Preston and Colne. According to the Department of Transport the numbers of passengers using trains had reached their highest level for forty years, and Government investment in the railways was currently £87 millions per week, of which £260 millions had, or would be, invested in the North West on the Trans-Pennine Expresses. Yet the Blackpool  Colne ‘local’ service was one of the poorest performing routes in the entire country according to Network Rail. Even if there were to be large sums of money made available to invest in improving the infrastructure, there was little scope for straightening out track to allow even a modest improvement in times by increasing speeds. Take the problems of a fortnight ago for instance. Keith Lumley, of Network Rail, explained that they had upgraded the power supply to the signalling system in the Rose Grove area, but when they had switched power back on it had caused a faulty switch to overload. Special working had to be introduced whilst repairs were made to this equipment, which had resulted in delays and cancellations. Now that this had been rectified there should be no more problems, with this particular apparatus. Okay as the cynics might say, but that was not the end of it, as journey times between the two termini on the locals were slower now than they were fifty years ago! A recent survey by the Rail Passengers’ Committee, showed that 59% of ‘customers’ using these services were dissatisfied. The portfolio holder for Lancashire County Council, Tony Martin, said he couldn’t understand why train operators didn’t respond to increased demand by putting more ‘coaches’ on. ( Note he does not use the term carriages .) The chairman of Railfuture North West England, ( yet another pro-transport body ), had acknowledged that there was little scope for running faster trains on the East Lancs Line. The plausible explanation for the ageing units employed on the service was, “Operators are squeezing every last bit of use out of their stock”. Sadly it was the Trans-Pennine Express services based on Manchester Airport that was receiving the bulk of the investment. This included a fleet of no less than 51 new trains, and £12 millions to improve the stations served by them. It seems that all can ever be aspired to on the East Lancashire Line, was that when the brand new stock is introduced, it will cascade something a little better onto the local services. In a survey of 25,000 passengers, the independent consumer body Passenger Focus had found that 81% of those asked, said they were completely or reasonably satisfied with their travelling experience. But half of those surveyed did not think their journeys were good value for money. Northern Rail who now operated all the services through East Lancashire, had announced that they were to introduce a fleet of 51 new trains capable of running at 100mph on their Trans-Pennine services during 2006. They were also committed to a programme of station improvements, which would cost £12 millions. Whether this would mean fresh trains on the East Lancs Line and new facilities at Accrington Station or any of the other three stations in Hyndburn, remained to be seen. February Some of the vegetation on the section of the East Lancashire Line in the vicinity of Rishton Station was to be cleared, in an attempt to avoid recurrences of trains slipping and sliding. During the autumn there were several reported instances of Diesel Multiple Units being unable to start away after stopping, or sliding beyond their intended stopping place due to a mulch of damp foliage. Healthy oak trees would be spared as would laurel and privet hedges. But all unnecessary and unhealthy growth would be either turned into chippings or left to break down by natural decay. “Although it has become something of a joke, decaying leaves can actually become something of a safety issue for the trains”, said Gary Openshaw, the General Manager of Network Rail. March Plans had already been announced to fund much needed improvements to Rishton, Rose Grove, and Colne Railway Stations, when the next list of stations to be given facelifts was announced. These

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