Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

minicoach then transferred a handful of passengers onto a Neoplan ‘Transliner’ before going out of service. The vehicle handling the Preston  Colne route on behalf of Fraser Eagle was a Volvo/Van Hool of Walton Transport of Freckleton. The timetable would change again on Sunday, December the 10 th , and the trains would be running on Christmas Eve, Sunday the 24 th , with a timetable that ended in the early evening. Up until the penultimate weekend of engineering works the coaches replacing trains had run all the way between Hebden Bridge and Preston. On the next to last Sunday however, the engineering work to the west of Blackburn had been completed, so the substitute coaches were only running between Blackburn and Hebden Bridge on the Trans-Pennine service, and Colne and Blackburn on the locals. The ‘local’ trains substitute was being worked by Fraser Eagle whilst the First Trans-Pennine vehicle was again from a locally based operator Rigby’s of Lancashire consortium. On the final weekend of the engineering work, which has seen replacement coaches substituting for trains on the East Lancashire Line for six consecutive weekends, all the vehicles operating were from ‘local’ sources. 2007 February Although no definite plans had yet been made as to if and when Accrington would have a dedicated bus facility, it had emerged that plans were afoot for a bus/rail interchange. In conjunction with Northern Rail, Network Rail and Hyndburn Borough Council, Lancashire County Council had purchased from British Railways Board the land between the present railway station and Eagle Street which was currently being leased to Hyndburn Council for use as a car park at an annual rent of £4,200 per annum. The British Railways Board intended to dispose of this piece of land, so it was decided that it should be obtained by the County Council to preserve it for future development, rather than let it be sold off into private ownership. The purchase price was £135,000 with additional associated fees of £10,850, making the total cost £145,850, this sum to be split between two financial years, with £139,350 coming in 2006/2007 and the remaining £6,500 in 2007/2008. This development superseded the issues relating to the establishment of an ‘Interchange’, as defined by the Cabinet Member for Highways & Transportation during 2004. The purchase had been completed at the earliest opportunity so that design work could be commissioned, the cost of which was estimated at £35,000. This expense would also be divided between two financial years, with £12,000 in 2006/2007 and £23,000 during 2007/2008. The whole project was subject to the County Council being granted planning permission, although it was thought that the establishment of such a facility would have “little impact on the current neighbourhood”. A certain degree of urgency had been given to forwarding this project, as the sale of a larger tract of land adjacent to the car park for development into a supermarket could have had an adverse impact on the cost and timing of establishing an interchange. In order to accelerate the process, an approach had already been made to the firm of SBS Architects who were included in the Environment Directorate Transport’s Framework Agreement, and who had previously undertaken a range of similar projects on behalf of the County Council. Plans had already been drawn up and they confirmed that the new booking office would be on the Eagle Street approaches to the station, replacing the existing building situated at the top of the slope from Paxton Street. Hyndburn Council would be seeking a contribution from the developers of the supermarket towards the cost of the interchange should they decide to proceed with their development. There were no alternative sites available for the development of a bus/rail interchange. It was Eagle Street or nothing! Members of the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership were to be kept informed on the project’s progress. It was somewhat ironic that the site of this interchange was exactly where the Halcrow report had identified as the optimum site for the main bus station. But it must be emphasised that the establishment of a bus/rail interchange in this location in no way altered the County Council’s intentions to develop a dedicated bus facility somewhere else in the town centre, although the two might not be too far apart. Since Hyndburn Council could demand six months’ notice to terminate their lease, this might be a stumbling block to the rapid advancement of this project, which quite frankly under the present administration would not be a surprise at all. March On the railway front the Skipton - East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP), was planning to run a train between Colne and Skipton on April 2 nd . Of course it wouldn’t be possible to go by the direct eleven and a half mile route, but would set off in the opposite direction and by reversing in

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