Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

This was due to discounted and student fares instead of full priced fares for the bulk of the sales. Forecasts on the current levels of fare revenue reflected the fact that franchise payments to Northern Rail, were mainly fixed in the period under review. February It appears as though the prospect of at least the doubling of the line from Gannow Junction in Burnley to Colne has not only the backing of the local borough councils, but also that of Lancashire County Council. The problem is, that even though this is seen by Skipton East Lancs Railway Action Partnership (SELRAP), as a major step towards the reinstatement of the ‘missing link’ between Colne and Skipton, no funding was as yet available. Before the line closed in February, 1970 the area beyond Colne to Skipton was sparsely populated and had small stations at Foulridge, Earby, Thornton-in-Craven and Elslack, of which only Earby remained open until the closure, Elslack and Thornton-in-Craven both closed in 1952, and Foulridge in 1959. SELRAP envisages just one new station would open on the entire stretch. Not only was reopening an ambition of the group, but also its electrification from the Skipton end through to Rose Grove some twenty miles distant. On the reinstated twelve mile section, there would be just one new station at Earby (for Barnoldswick Parkway), in order to serve that community and the Rolls-Royce aerospace factory there, the only one in the north of England. It states that no new level crossings would be necessary as the ones originally on the route could be bypassed by building short sections of new roadway. The estimated cost of this work had been put in the region of £100 millions. It appears as though the new management of Arriva Trains North were enthusiastic about this prospect, as it recognised the advantages it would bring when feeding into the investments they were now making in East Lancashire. It also seemed according to SELRAP, that this would be a very much cheaper option than building a new line through the Pennines, which would be far more expensive having to go through hard rock to bore the tunnels that would be necessary. With more power stations abandoning coal and turning to biomass in order to generate power such as the one at Drax, along with the new deep water dock in Liverpool generating more container and intermodal traffic, more paths for freight will be required in the future, and a fully reopened section between Colne and Skipton when doubled would provide an alternative solution to the ones already close to capacity, the gradients over this section being less severe than on any of the other existing trans-Pennine routes. March It would be hard lines for anyone hoping for a smooth journey on Monday the 13 th , as Arriva – Northern Rail’s guards were to stake a one day strike against the proposed introduction of driver only trains. This would probably mean that only a reduced service which the operator claims will be about a third of the trains will be running. It is part of a larger movement against the removal of guards which is happening over on Merseyrail and has been an issue on Southern Rail for almost a year. The Union stated that it makes trains less safe to passengers to have the driver operate the doors, which on some stations with curved platforms means they cannot see all the way along the train. What makes it more difficult to understand is that some operators are replacing guards with what are called ‘Customer Service Operatives’. At Northern Rail with so many unmanned stations I could see how this system would work without a degree of lost revenue, as guards also check and dispense fares along the routes. I assumed that this strike is an opening shot at Arriva, before the new CAF stock is introduced. As usual buses were replacing services through Accrington, as indeed they were required to do on two occasions in the previous week, when first a signal problem at Bamber Bridge on Monday the 6 th , and again with a problem at Rose Grove later on Thursday. April Since the Todmorden Curve re-opened in 2015 it has been revealed that passenger numbers using the East Lancs Line has grown by 14%, which had fuelled another move to have the 11∙5 miles of trackbed between Colne and Skipton relaid and reopened to traffic. At a meeting of Hyndburn Council it was resolved to write to Lancashire County Council, Transport For The North and the Department of Transport to have them examine the scheme, which would provide a diversionary link between Lancashire and Yorkshire to relieve some of the pressure on the already congested cross-Pennine routes. Miles Parkinson Council Leader said, “This would cost only a fraction of the investment made in CrossRail in London and the Home Counties, and it would be a significant cog in the Northern Powerhouse development”. Even the former leader of the Conservative Group, who are not known for supporting transport schemes, thought it would benefit the area.

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