Lancashire Telegraph, 6th March 2025
What a lousy service, as Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner has emphasised the importance of transport connectivity across the the whole of the North to boost economic growth:
"Hundreds of rail services due to stop in East Lancashire during the first four weeks of this year were cancelled, new data has revealed.
The data has been published by the Office for Rail and Road and covers the period January 5 to February 1 inclusive.
It found that scores of passengers were left stranded or delayed due to cancellations on the rails, with the worst hit station in East Lancs seeing one in 15 services not turn up.
In recent months, Blackburn station has been particularly affected, especially on Sundays, when a lack of staff due to changes in contracts meant services were unable to run.
Last month, Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Cllr Phil Riley met with rail operator Northern to discuss the problems and potential solutions to avoid further instances of passengers being inconvenienced.
The data shows the worst affected station East Lancashire during the first four weeks of the year was Burnley Manchester Road, which saw 7.4 per cent of the 1,845 services due to stop at the cancelled.
Blackburn station saw 6.1 per cent of the 4,485 scheduled stops cancelled, while in Accrington the figure was seven per cent of the 2,748 services.
In Darwen, 6.4 per cent of the services were cancelled, while in Clitheroe 3.9 per cent of services were no-shows.
The lowest rate of cancellations in the region came at Mill Hill station in Blackburn, where it was 3.4 per cent for the 1,014 services scheduled.
The highest rate nationally was at Ince and Elton near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, where more than one in five (22.8 per cent) of services were cancelled – though the station was only scheduled 92 stops in that period.
Seven other stations, from Cardiff to Surrey, saw more than a tenth of scheduled services not turn up.
At the other end of the scale, 34 stations saw no cancellations, though nearly all were minor stations with fewer than 200 stops.
Preston, Lancashire’s busiest station, had a cancellation rate of 5.8 per cent."
The full list of East Lancashire stations, broken down by the number of scheduled services, and the percentage of which were cancelled, is:
Burnley Manchester Road 1,845 7.43%
Accrington 2,748 6.95%
Church and Oswaldtwistle 960 6.46%
Darwen 1,622 6.41%
Blackburn 4,485 6.13%
Rose Grove 1,819 5.94%
Nelson 899 5.90%
Burnley Barracks 896 5.80%
Colne 899 5.78%
Burnley Central 899 5.67%
Brierfield 899 5.67%
Hapton 900 5.67%
Huncoat 900 5.67%
Rishton 900 5.56%
Entwistle 970 4.33%
Clitheroe 919 3.92%
Langho 919 3.92%
Ramsgreave and Wilpshire 919 3.92%
Whalley (Lancashire) 919 3.92%
Cherry Tree 943 3.61%
Pleasington 943 3.61%
Mill Hill (Lancs) 1,014 3.35%