Competing petitions urge restoration of Fleetwood rail services
Two competing petitions - one backing trains and the other trams - have been launched with the aim of reinstating the rail link to one of the world’s first tourism-related lines.
A petition to Parliament is calling for restoration of train services over the six-mile section of track between the Lancashire port of Fleetwood and Poulton-le-Fylde, on the main line between Blackpool North and Preston. The route carried its last regular passengers in 1970, 130 years after it opened.
More than 1,700 people have signed the petition, submitted by Fleetwood town councillor Mary Stirzaker.
However, a separate petition to Fleetwood and Lancaster MP Cat Smith, signed by nearly 2,300 people, claims: “A Fleetwood to Poulton tramway could do more than a railway ever could.”
For more than a decade, Poulton and Wyre Railway Society has been working to reopen the link for heavy rail. Volunteers have transformed the main intermediate station on the line, Thornton, into an LMS-style gem.
The society’s long-term hope is to run a weekday peak-hour community commuter service to connect with main line trains at Poulton. But for the present, it is concentrating on developing a heritage-themed tourist line to exploit the millions of annual visitors to nearby Blackpool and the other Fylde resorts.
Initially the society is planning to run brakevan rides using its Fowler 0-4-0 diesel shunter, and later its Class 108 diesel multiple unit that is currently being restored.
“We are a town of more than 26,000 people who are literally at the end of the line,” said Stirzaker.
“There is a need in Fleetwood for decent transport links on the grounds of deprivation and the poor economy. People have to travel for an hour at peak times to get to the nearest station five miles away. Fleetwood has great potential. Commuter rail is essential to rebuild our economy.”
If the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the Government will respond. At 100,000 signatures, it would be considered for debate in Parliament.
The second petition claims that the annual number of passengers using the Blackpool tramway is more than the resort’s five railway stations combined.
A tramway could easily connect from the line directly to Fleetwood’s high-street businesses and residential areas, and trams would introduce many new stops for residents, the petition says.
“Other towns and cities across the world are embracing trams, including conversion of former rail lines. Fleetwood can’t miss out on its huge potential, and the decision-makers should carry out a new study to address the options available.”
The reopening campaign has been given a further boost by the announcement of plans for the multi-million-pound Fleetwood Quays regeneration scheme.
However, hopes of running through railtours to Fleetwood have been ended by NR’s decision to remove the double-track junction at Poulton linking the branch to the Blackpool North main line, as part of the current electrification of the route.