Ribble Valley line
Ribble Valley line | |||
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Overview | |||
Status | Operational | ||
Owner | Network Rail | ||
Locale | Lancashire Greater Manchester Blackburn North West England | ||
Stations | 14 | ||
Service | |||
System | National Rail | ||
Rolling stock | |||
Technical | |||
standard gauge | |||
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Ribble Valley Line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ribble Valley line is a railway line that runs from
The line north of Blackburn was closed to a regular passenger service from September 1962, but remained open for freight, passenger diversions and the occasional DalesRail service. However, in 1994, services between Blackburn and Clitheroe were reinstated after a public campaign. Reopening the line for passengers between Clitheroe and Hellifield has been mentioned in some reports and newspapers to provide connections on the Settle Carlisle line, with the most recent being a business case for the proposal being granted government funds in 2020.
Early history
The Ribble Valley line was built by several different railway companies, all of which later became part of the
The southernmost portion of the Ribble Valley line, between
The portion between Bolton and
The route from Blackburn to
In March 1847, the BD&BR and the BC&NWJR agreed to amalgamate, becoming the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway; the necessary Act received Royal Assent on 9 July 1847. The name was shortened to the Blackburn Railway by a further Act of 24 July 1851.
On 1 January 1858, the Blackburn Railway became the joint property of the LYR and ELR (this was not authorised by Parliament until 12 July 1858).[17] In 1859, the LYR and ELR themselves amalgamated, the LYR retaining its identity, and so the Blackburn Railway became wholly absorbed by the LYR.[18] From this time, the trains along the former Blackburn Railway lines used the former ELR station at Blackburn.[19]
The NWR was absorbed by the
Later history
The line between Blackburn and Hellifield was closed to passengers on 10 September 1962 but continued to be used for diversions and for freight, and until 15 August 1964 there was a Saturdays-only train from Manchester to Glasgow which used this route.[21] The line between Blackburn and Bolton remained open, but was reduced to single track operation in two stages as part of major resignalling projects on the East Lancashire line (1973) and Bolton area (1985). The line between Blackburn and Hellifield was slated for complete closure in 1983 along with the closure of the Settle and Carlisle line, however, this proposal was dropped in 1989.[22] After a public campaign, the line between Blackburn and Clitheroe was reopened to regular passenger services in 1994, and a Sunday only service was later reintroduced between Clitheroe and Hellifield.
The towns and villages on the route are the following:
- Manchester
- Bolton
- Hall i' th' Wood
- Bromley Cross
- Entwistle
- Darwen
- Blackburn
- Ramsgreave and Wilpshire
- Langho
- Whalley
- Clitheroe
Passenger services from
The service from Manchester to Clitheroe was designated by the
The line between
In 2009, a scheme called "Pennine Lancashire" proposed new housing, tourist attractions and improved transport links, supported by the Labour Government and Prime Minister of that time. The scheme included enhancements to the Ribble Valley line including:
- new signalling
- doubling single track lines
- increased line-speeds
- new rolling stock
- extending platform lengths
The scheme was welcomed by the Ribble Valley Rail group, who have campaigned to re-open the line and were very excited at the proposals.[26][27]
Network Rail has carried out £14 million of improvements to track & signalling either side of Darwen station in July and August 2015. A six-week engineering blockade saw the existing passing loop there extended by 1-mile (1.6 km)) at each end and signalling improvements made to add capacity on the line and allow for service frequencies between Bolton and Blackburn to be doubled to two trains per hour each way throughout the day from December 2017.[28][29] The work was completed on schedule and the line reopened on 24 August 2015.
Possible reopening
The line has been a useful diversionary route for when the West Coast Main Line (WCML) has been closed for repairs and has also seen freight traffic use it.[30] There have been periodic calls for the final section north from Clitheroe to be re-opened to passenger traffic to provide a connection with the Leeds to Carlisle services at Hellifield.[31][32] In 2020, the UK Government announced a £500 million fund to enable groups and campaigners to pay for business cases on reopening proposals.[33] The section of line between Hellifield and Clitheroe was in the initial ten proposals that were approved for funding by the government.[34]
The bid by campaigners suggests reopening the stations at Chatburn, Rimington, Gisburn and Newsholme with a provision for trains from Clitheroe to run southwards to Leeds after arriving at Hellifield, rather than continuing north to Carlisle. A newly introduced passenger service would increase services southwards from Clitheroe to half-hourly as opposed to the current level of one service per hour.[35]
See also
References
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 30.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 33.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 58.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 65.
- ^ a b Marshall 1969, p. 188.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 175.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 176.
- ^ a b c Marshall 1969, p. 178.
- ^ Marshall 1969, pp. 178, 181.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 181.
- ^ Marshall 1969, pp. 188–9.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 177.
- ^ a b Marshall 1969, p. 183.
- ^ Marshall 1969, pp. 177, 187.
- ^ a b Marshall 1969, pp. 183–4.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 184.
- ^ a b Marshall 1969, p. 185.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 123.
- ^ a b Marshall 1969, p. 187.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 190.
- ^ Marshall 1969, p. 200.
- ISBN 0-19-925005-7.
- ^ a b Bartlett, David (26 March 2007). "£8m train service upgrade on track". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
- ^ "£8m Bolton-Blackburn rail revamp derailed". The Bolton News. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
- Railissue 602
- ^ Clitheroe Advertiser and Times Thursday, 15 January 2009 (No 6389)
- ^ Clitheroe Advertiser article on the proposed changes
- ^ "More rail misery — no trains between Bolton and Blackburn for six weeks over summer as £14 million improvement works start" Thorp, Liam, Bolton News article 23 June 2015; Retrieved 15 September 2015
- ^ "Blackburn to Bolton railway reopens after £14m upgrade" The Shuttle news article 25 August 2015; Retrieved 15 September 2015
- ISBN 978-1-78500-637-1.
- ^ "Trains fan ready to bet thousands on new link". Craven Herald. 15 May 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "Plans to restore old rail line back on track?". The Clitheroe Advertiser. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "£500m fund to help restore Beeching rail lines". BBC News. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "10 rail schemes awarded business case development funding". Railway Gazette International. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ "New Pennine rail link between Clitheroe and Hellifield moves a step closer". Craven Herald. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- James, David (2004). Lancashire's Lost Railways. OCLC 56002103.
- ISBN 0-7153-4352-1.
- Welch, S. Lancashire Steam Finale, ISBN 1-870754-61-1
Further reading
- Marshall, John (October 1962). B.W.C., Cooke (ed.). "Manchester to Hellifield, part one". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 108, no. 738. Westminster: Tothill Press. pp. 677–682.
- Marshall, John (November 1962). B.W.C., Cooke (ed.). "Manchester to Hellifield, part two". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 108, no. 739. Westminster: Tothill Press. pp. 755–763.
- Brass, Peter (18 June – 1 July 1997). "The line that refused to give up!". OCLC 49953699.