The East Lancashire line is a railway route in Lancashire, England. It connects and , via , , and . The line formerly ran on to , but this section was closed in 1970. It is operated by Northern Trains.
History The line was built by the Blackburn and Preston Railway and the Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington and Colne Extension Railway. Both companies were later absorbed by the East Lancashire Railway on 3 August 1846 and 21 July 1845 respectively. The East Lancashire Railway was, in turn, absorbed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on 13 May 1859.
The line connected end-on at Colne with the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway's line to Skipton and Bradford; this link closed in 1970. The Skipton–East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) now campaigns to reinstate it. The section from Colne to Nelson was singled in the following year, with the rest of the line to Gannow Junction being so treated in December 1986.
In the 1870s, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built the North Lancashire Loop (also known as the Great Harwood Loop), a route through Great Harwood, Simonstone and Padiham, which bypassed Accrington. The line between Padiham and Rose Grove opened in 1875; west of Padiham, it opened two years later as a result of difficulties in constructing the embankments between Great Harwood and Simonstone.
Regular use of the North Lancashire Loop ceased in 1957; the route closed completely in 1964, with only the section from Rose Grove to Padiham Power Station remaining until 1993.
Services Trains from Preston to Colne usually begin at , on the Blackpool branch line, which makes the whole length of the route a total of .
Services via the Roses line route encompass the Calder Valley line's semi-fast trains from , stopping at Preston, Blackburn, Accrington and ; they head into Yorkshire, currently terminating at . Since May 2015, trains between Blackburn, and also use this route, providing a direct link from Accrington and Burnley to Manchester, via .
Services on this line stop at every station, although , and Burnley Barracks were request stopsuntil December 2025 when they became standard stops again. It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in November 2006.Lancs. County Council description of East Lancs CRP
References
External links
Community Rail Lancashire – East Lancashire Line