£17million plan to transform East Lancs Railway with diesel trains

11:58am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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BURY has come up with its own congestion-busting idea — to run a modernised train service on the historic East Lancashire Railway.

Council leaders want a £17.5 million slice of Greater Manchester’s £3bn Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) to operate state-of-the-art diesel electric trains on the heritage line.

The proposal, aimed at persuading commuters to ditch the car, has already been broached with bosses at East Lancashire Railway (ELR) and will be considered by Bury Council’s executive next Wednesday.

It follows a feasibility study carried out by one of the UK’s most experienced transportation consultancies Faber Maunsell.

They suggest two possible routes for passengers to travel from Rawtenstall through Bury to Manchester’s Victoria station, from Monday to Friday, during peak times.

One route would run from Rawtenstall to Bolton Street station in Bury and then continue from the station to Buckley Wells where commuters would link with the existing Metrolink service to Manchester.

The other option would run via Bolton Street station, past the town hall, and head for Rochdale, where the line would be remodelled at Castleton Junction before going on to Manchester Victoria.

Faber Maunsell has estimated that the proposals could cost £15 million with operating costs of £2.5 million — at today’s prices. Further research will now be carried out on a ‘demand study’ to identify how many people would potentially use the train to travel to work.

Council leader, Councillor Bob Bibby said: “There needs to be something in the TIF bid for the people of Bury. I have pressed for this measure since last July and I am pleased that at long last someone is listening.

“If this project goes ahead, Bury's roads will be less congested on radial routes and there will be relief for commuters between Rochdale and Bolton. I will continue to press the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority until this dream becomes a reality."

It is anticipated the scheme would remove a considerable quantity of traffic from the M66 around Bury and also have a significant impact on traffic further south of the borough.

ELR chairman Mr Peter Duncan commented: “This is still a draft report at this stage and it has not been discussed by the East Lancashire Railway.

“We are party to the discussions and processes of the draft report but we’0re talking about something that is many years down the track.”

Work so far has been carried out in partnership with Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, Bury Council, Lancashire County Council, Rochdale Council and Rossendale Council.

* The £3bn funding for public transport improvements for Greater Manchester is dependent on a congestion charge scheme being introduced.