Accrington Railways - Robert Kenyon

services to run clockwise and anti-clockwise from Manchester Victoria through Bolton, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Todmorden and Rochdale as previously outlined. Things had radically changed and now we were told this Government had committed to opening some of the many lines which were closed after Beeching, so I felt it was time to contact my MP again with my views as follows - Dear Graham, Some time ago you asked for my opinion on the reinstatement of the eleven or so miles of railway between Colne and Skipton, on which I provided you with some facts. These were mainly in the negative, on the grounds of cost and previous passenger usage. However, things change and it appears with them the attitude of the Tory Government. It was always my belief that the cuts suggested by Beeching were somewhat premature, and that even if the tracks were removed the embankments, cuttings and tunnels should remain undeveloped, so that if circumstances dictated, there was the possibility of putting the lines back in. Without changing my opinion on passenger services on this section, it seems as though this link between Lancashire and Yorkshire could prove to be a very useful alternative route for freight. For one thing it had the least severe gradients of any existing route across the Pennines, and there was an increasing amount of biomass traffic moving between ports and power stations west to east and vice versa, which could travel over on this route were it to be reinstated. There are less and less paths on the existing routes via Todmorden, Standedge or the Hope Valley and with the increasing growth of passengers and the pressure for a faster cross Pennine service, it could well be that the Colne - Skipton section could provide a major factor in the answer. I also note that with the opening of the Ordsall Chord, it would now be possible to connect East Lancs directly with Manchester Airport, which was one of your aspirations when the Todmorden Curve was reinstated, instead of as now these trains going through to Wigan Wallgate. A few days later I received his response, which stated that SELRAP’s own estimate for the work to reinstate the full 11½ miles of line from Colne to Skipton with double track was £100 millions. This sounded like an enormous amount, but to put it into perspective the new Elizabeth Line in London was costing £14·5 billions*, or for every one pound on the Colne  Skipton £145 on this southern project (* This figure was later revised up £16·9 billions.) He was also taking up the case for the service to run through to Manchester Airport. In December Paul Maynard, Minister with responsibility for railways, had suggested that the ‘business case’ for the reopening of this stretch was not sufficiently convincing and it was therefore not on the Government’s Strategic Vision List. However, it was intimated that the Government would take into consideration any advice put forward by Transport for the North, presumably a subsidiary of the illusive Northern Powerhouse, if they felt it was worthy of inclusion. One reoccurring problem with all projects was, the longer the delay the more costs would spiral, and those who delay proceedings with endless objections were costing taxpayers huge sums of money for which they were not accountable. February Here is the text of a letter I forwarded to MP Graham Jones following the recent meeting of Travelwatch North West -

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