Lancashire MP demands help during weekend rail closures

'‹A Lancashire MP has demanded clear signage and proper disabled access for train passengers as weekend rail closures begin.
There will be no weekend trains between Blackpool and PrestonThere will be no weekend trains between Blackpool and Preston
There will be no weekend trains between Blackpool and Preston

Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden has written to Network Rail asking for reassurances about the bus replacement service and other measures being brought in to keep Lancashire moving,

The Labour MP said he was “particularly concerned” ​ about transfers “given the unsatisfactory nature of replacement buses and signage that I personally observed at Preston with the closures and replacement buses provided prior to October.​”

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Mr Marsden has also asked for assistance to be given at Preston and at both the Blackpool North and South stations for people with mobility difficulties.

Passengers are reminded to plan their journeys as the next phase of the major work to upgrade the railway between Preston and Blackpool gets under way .

The Northern Programmes project, part a £1 billion-plus investment across the north, has already delivered the electrification of the line linking Wigan with Manchester and Liverpool.

The next phase will upgrade the line between Poulton-Le-Fylde and Salwick and prepare the line for electrification.

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There will alterations to train services for 10 weekends, starting two days ago.

This means that buses will replace trains between Preston and both Blackpool North and Blackpool South stations.

Alison Rowley, programme manager for Network Rail, said: “We are working closely with Northern to minimise the disruption to passengers and raise awareness of these changes to weekend train services between Preston and Blackpool.”

Over the next six weekends tracks will be replaced in the Chorley, Adlington, Blackrod and Horwich areas. The work is being delivered alongside the electrification of the line .