The South Fylde Line Community Rail Partnership (SFLCRP) held its quarterly meeting last week and part of the agenda was an update on the Action Plan. This covered abroad range of topics and some of these can be seen below:
Chair of SFLCRP Tony Ford with his special award
Restoring Your Railway
The first stage in the RYR process is the production of a SOBC (Strategic Outline Business Case) and this was completed and sent to the DfT before Christmas 2021 see news item for more details and a link to the Executive Summary of the SOBC.
https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/news/south-fylde-line-restoring-your-rail-report-submitted/
A public consultation formed part of the development of the SOBC and in all 255 people responded to this opportunity. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts about the line and its future.
The project if ultimately successful will see services on the SFL improved with possibly the introduction of a passing loop to enable a half hourly heavy rail service to operate between Preston and Blackpool South. However, the study will also evaluate other alternatives as well including tram-train and conversion to light rail.
Accreditation
The re-accreditation meeting took place on the 13th October, 2021 and we are delighted to report that Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) and the 4 Lancashire CRPs have been successfully re-accredited for a further year. For more details go to:
https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/news/reaccreditation-success-for-2021-22/
Education
A separate report setting CRL’s recent educational engagement activity can be seen on this link: Education Report January 2022 update
Manchester Recovery Task Force
CRL and the 4 Lancashire CRPs submitted a response to the Manchester Recovery Task Force consultation on the proposed timetables for December 2022. Copies of this can be forwarded on request.
Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP)
Lancashire County Council, in partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Council, submitted its ‘Bus Service Improvement Plan’ to the DfT on the 28th October. Full details about the Plan can be found by using the 2 attached links:
The Plan is an essential part of the National Bus Strategy (Bus Back Better) recently launched by the DfT and Prime Minister.
Blackpool Council has also published its BSIP see link below:
Improving Integration
This has been led by Vernon Smith on behalf of the CRP. A key focus has been responding to the National Bus Strategy and the development of BSIPs by Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council see the links above.
Platforms 3C & 4C at Preston station
Northern has confirmed that the Ormskirk service will be permanently linked to the Colne service from December 2022. Northern has confirmed that the service will continue to use platforms 3C & 4C at least until HS2 remodelling of platforms 3 & 4 take out the 2 bays. To improve the environment at this ‘lonely’ part of the station CRL & Lancashire CC have worked on an application to the Avanti Community Rail fund for the provision of seats, planters and information panels. At the time of writing this report the application to Avanti had been submitted and a decision awaited.
The Tony Award
Tony won the ‘2021 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Britain in Bloom NW’ for his involvement and enthusiasm in supporting volunteers at stations along the South Fylde Line. For the full story click on this link: https://communityraillancashire.co.uk/news/the-tony-award/
Explore Lancashire by Rail
Huckleberry Films are producing an initial series of 4 short films promoting walks from railway stations. Three films have been produced so far covering walks between Lytham and St Anne’s on the South Fylde Line, Rose Grove station and Padiham in East Lancashire and Burscough Junction to Rufford stations on the West Lancashire Line. To view these, use the following links: a fourth film will show case a walk around the reservoirs at Entwistle on the Clitheroe Line. You can see the completed films on the links below:
Lytham to St Anne’s – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC7CtK2ZJJ0
Rose Grove to Padiham along the Padiham Greenway – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yaq8Wisk8E
Burscough Junction to Rufford via the Leeds & Liverpool and Rufford Branch canals – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CkGdwUC7KE
You can download the full quarterly report on this link: SFLCRP Quarterly Report February 2022 and also the quarterly education report on this link Education Report January 2022 update.
