Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

December The tanker trains which regularly pass through Accrington on route from Preston Docks to Immingham, which were operated by DB Schenker until recently, were now being operated by Colas Rail, which is why I took note of Class 47 in the orange/yellow/black livery heading east, light engine on the afternoon of the 4 th . 2015 February It had been announced that the new train service from East Lancashire to Manchester Victoria via the £8·8 millions Todmorden Curve, would start running on May 17 th . Driver training would commence on February 9 th , for the service which will cut the rail journey time from Accrington to Manchester from 90 minutes to 45. An adult day return would cost £9:80p. Member of Parliament, Graham Jones, had also pushed for the service to call at Church & Oswaldtwistle during the off-peak periods, as well as going via the Ordsall Chord to reach Manchester Airport at some point in the future. He had received Government assurances that this extension would indeed be possible. If the ‘Pacers’ seemed antiquated, then a scheme to replace them with refurbished redundant London Underground trains for suburban services in our region might raise a few eyebrows, since the stock in question was even older! However, it had been reported that a condition for the refranchising of both the Northern Rail and the Trans-Pennine operations would be that by 2020 the Class 142 ‘Pacers’ would have to be withdrawn and replaced by something else, although not necessarily new rolling stock. MP Graham Jones had hoped that when the new Manchester Victoria to Blackburn train service started with the summer timetable on May 17 th , the train would go forward via the Ordsall Cord to reach Manchester Airport. An official from Northern Rail, who will operate this service, hinted that in fact some of these trains would continue on to Southport via Wigan Wallgate. It was therefore likely that the ones coming through Accrington would have originated at the coastal resort on their return journey back east. March At a meeting of TravelWatch North-West, a speaker was Kathryn O’Brien, Customer Service Director of First Trans-Pennine Express, ( who had sponsored this meeting ). Despite having won awards for being Investors in People and the North of England Business Award, her Company had found it necessary to set up, along with Network Rail a “war room” in order to formulate a co-ordinated plan of action to meet the immediate challenges faced by them. It was also adopting a system which had begun in Belgium of a ‘hidden’ disability card, the ‘Blue Assist Card’, which discreetly identified any passenger to their staff as one who required extra assistance when travelling by train. One issue, which was of over riding importance, was the refranchising of the Trans-Pennine Express operations due in April, 2015. Kathryn was confident that there would be an extension granted until February, 2016, and if the franchise was retained it might be the springboard to an investment in new rolling stock, as at the moment there wasn’t a surplus of DMUs available to lease, and the inertia to convert lines and services to electrification had resulted in no new diesel multiple units being built. Hugh Chaplain, of Franchise Lead - Rail North, was another speaker. Along with a small team of experienced managers his job, amongst others, was to broker deals with the bidders for both the Trans Pennine Express and Northern Rail franchises. The long term strategy for the North West would encompass the railway he acknowledged that the Passenger Transport Executives would have some substantial influence on the development of transport and railways throughout our region. He stressed that part of Rail North’s remit would be to tackle the obvious issues, overcrowding, improvements to journey times, connectivity, faster end to end journey times and estimating how to cope with the additional demands made on the system. He envisaged a more “user-friendly” network, a simplification of a complicated fares structure, a more cost effective network and less disruption whilst improvements were being made. He also made reference to the great work being done by volunteer groups, who maintained their local stations under the headings of ‘Friends Of’, such as the ones who maintained the stations in Hyndburn. The point had been raised that the term ‘friends of’ or the word ‘volunteer’, conjured up a picture of people doing something for nothing. This, in the terms of railways, suggested that they are involved in doing something for which Network Rail should have the responsibility thus saving them expense. It was suggested that if these commendable groups did not carry out the tasks they do, they would just not get done and the facilities as they were, would be allowed to deteriorate. It was also pointed out that the majority of people who engaged in these tasks tended to be the older generations, and that there was scepticism that when they were no longer capable of doing the splendid work that they do, there might not

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