Rail group's 'window of opportunity'

From the archive, first published Thursday 7th Dec 2006.

SELRAP - the Skipton to East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership - has got the backing of 33 politicians in its campaign to reopen rail links between Colne and Skipton.

The pressure group can claim the support of 21 MPs and 12 Euro MPs from the North of England, including Craven and Pendle representatives David Curry and Gordon Prentice.

SELRAP has also received a boost with news that parts of the rail network in East Lancashire have been given "community rail status", meaning that passengers and local businesses can get involved in the running of trains and stations.

The railway line between Colne and Burnley's Gannow Junction - the "East Lancashire Line" - and the service between Colne and Preston were awarded the status by rail minister Tom Harris.

SELRAP member Andy Shackleton said the move could increase passenger numbers on the Colne line and improve services, boosting SELRAP's drive to reinstate rail links with Skipton within five years.

He said: "We at SELRAP think it can only be a plus as far as we're concerned, but we still regard the Colne route as a single track line to nowhere. We think it needs doubling, so you can have more than one train an hour, and electrifying throughout, from Manchester to East Lancashire and right through to Skipton and Airedale.

"We want to bring the Colne line, which carries about 800,000 passengers a year, up to scratch with the line on the other side of the county border, which carries something like 10 million a year."

Mr Shackleton added that the community rail status, which allowed people to become stakeholders in their local railway and improve stations by "adopting" them, tied in with SELRAP's belief that times had never been better to create, or resurrect, rail routes in Britain.

"We believe we've got a five-year window of opportunity," he said. "With congestion charging looming and new speed restrictions being brought in for goods vehicles, we think this is the time when we've got the strongest case ever for re-opening the line."

For more information, go to www.selrap.org.uk or write to membership secretary Derek Jennings, 3 Hamilton Road, Carr Hall, Barrowford, Nelson BB9 6DE.