Rail plan ‘threat to heritage line’
THE chairman of the East Lancashire Railway has put the brakes on Rossendale’s latest bid to restore passenger rail services between the Valley and Manchester.
Earlier this month we reported that work to develop a new mainstream passenger rail link between Rawtenstall and Bury, was given £50,000 by Chancellor Rishi Sunak from the government’s Restoring Your Railway ‘Ideas Fund’ in his Budget.
The proposed link, which has been backed by Rossendale council chiefs and MP Jake Berry, would see journey times of around 50 minutes into central Manchester and it is predicted to reduce car journeys on the M66/A56 by anywhere between one to three million.
But Mike Kelly has now questioned the viability of the scheme and claims the development would threaten the future of the heritage railway line.
The ELR chairman said: “While we understand the desire for greater connectivity between Rossendale and Manchester, imposing a commuter service to run on the heritage railway is not the way to go about it.
“This will be the fourth such study in nine years, many of which have concluded this proposed commuter line isn’t economically viable and would require enormous capital investment and annual subsidies.
“The development would, at best, threaten the efficient and effective operations of, and at worst force the complete closure of the heritage railway line operated by East Lancashire Railway (ELR), thus threatening the growth plans in Bury town centre, Ramsbottom and for Rochdale at Heywood and Castleton.”
Mr Kelly believes the new study should instead focus on alternative, “more cost-effective” options to improve transport links between Rossendale and Manchester.
He added: “ELR is a leading tourist attraction in the region, hosts important educational visits, creates jobs, and contributes £8 million annually into local economies.
“The award-winning railway, rescued from dereliction by volunteers, is a unique ‘living history’ experience that hundreds of thousands of visitors attend every year and if remodelled in the modern form, those important heritage features will be lost for ever.
“It is our considered view that a new commuter line cannot coexist with the existing East Lancashire heritage line that our volunteers have given so much time and effort to preserve over the last 30 plus years.