Revamped Blackburn platform to open (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Revamped Blackburn platform to open
9:30am Saturday 22nd October 2011 in News
BLACKBURN Railway Station's new-look platform was unveiled yesterday.
The £1.7million renovation of platform four was officially opened by Blackburn MP Jack Straw and is set to make travelling on the Clitheroe line a more comfortable experience.
The improvements have taken five months to complete and include new lighting, passenger information screens, a public address system and CCTV cameras.
A new lift, which will make the platform more easily accessible to disabled passengers and those with luggage, has also been installed.
But the piece de resistance is the heated waiting room, where passengers can shelter from the elements.
"It gives such amazing resources for the customers and we are hoping it will encourage more passengers," said station manager Jane Murray.
"It is so bright and just gives a wow factor."
Blackburn with Darwen Council is aiming to increase the number of trains passing through Blackburn so that there will be a train to Manchester every half hour.
Mayor Karimeh Foster said that this would show everybody what Blackburn has to offer and might even encourage businesses to open here.
Funding for the developments was provided by Access For All For Life, the National Stations Improvement Programme and Blackburn with Darewn Council.
"This is a great day for rail passengers in Blackburn and for the town and the area as a whole," said Mr Straw.
"We now have a very fast service to Yorkshire and beyond,” he said.
Comments(19)
chocky
says...
10:13am Sat 22 Oct 11
shytalk
says...
1:10pm Sat 22 Oct 11
happycyclist
says...
1:28pm Sat 22 Oct 11
Mothernature
says...
2:07pm Sat 22 Oct 11
Brian Todd
says...
3:51pm Sat 22 Oct 11
Those planners thought little of the people who actua;ly pay for the railway.
johnley
says...
4:37pm Sat 22 Oct 11
s_smith
says...
6:15pm Sat 22 Oct 11
Brian Todd wrote:Platform 4 was never designed to be in regular use - all trains were to use P1 to P3. P4 was used to stable trains for the evening peak to Manchester.
I could not believe that the first redesigned Blackburn RAilway Station could allow the platform where most passangers waited to be without a cover and had to add this protection as an extra.
Those planners thought little of the people who actua;ly pay for the railway.
.
I am of the opinion, however, that Blackburn Station is in the wrong place.
.
The whole building should have been demolished and moved back toward where Vue Cinema is now, a multi-storey car park built adjacent to it and the space at the front made vacant by the demolished original building used for a new undercover bus interchange.
.
It should also have been moved closer to Darwen Street Bridge, to allow a new entrance to be built there. As it is, the station is tucked away either in the bus station, or at the back of the cinema.
.
Again though, it shows a lack of forward planning and thinking on the part of the council to have a "master plan" for the town and instead taking each element of the town separately and not thinking "well, if this could be moved slightly...".
.
So many wasted opportunities...
Noiticer
says...
6:54pm Sat 22 Oct 11
In the 1980's British Rail also had plans to move the station's location back to the site now occupied by the Vue but the station building was Listed so couldn't. Again, this proposal was simply to release land for commercial development without thought for the passengers. Examples where such plans happened in the 1980's include Windermere, Southport (where more recent proposals suggested moving the platforms further back but strongly resisted), Blackpool, Morecambe, Wrexham all with detrimental effects on passengers.
As stated, Platform 4 was never intended for regular use when Blackburn Station was refurbished and now we have the ridiculous state of affairs when passengers bound for Manchester and Preston have to make a long detour to the booking office on the island platform or use the less flexible ticket machine in the subway. The current arrangement also involves at least four ticket inspectors to check tickets. Before the Station was remodelled and the booking office was downstairs it needed one!Removing the overall roof has allowed water to pour into the subway because the rail planners forgot thet the track above would need a waterproof membrane adding when the roof was removed.
Watching the contractors carrying out the work on Platform 4 has been an object lesson in why improvements on the rail network take such a long time and are so costly. Their workrate, or lack of, was frustrating to observe.
s_smith
says...
10:16pm Sat 22 Oct 11
.
The station building itself is of no real architectural merit, so god knows why it is listed - it is essentially a big shed with a clock on top of it and a canopy in front. It is neither a welcoming building or anything to look at.
.
Moving the station back toward Vue and moving the platforms up toward Darwen St Bridge, would allow for a new entrances to be provided closer to the main shopping streets, longer platforms for longer trains (Blackburn is a calling point for many charter trains heading up the S&C for example).
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But hey, forward thinking, even for someone of my advancing age isnt always appreciated obviously.
tenerc
says...
10:36pm Sat 22 Oct 11
Jerzei Balowski
says...
1:26am Sun 23 Oct 11
happycyclist
says...
12:26pm Sun 23 Oct 11
s_smith wrote:Another excellent comment from s_smith.
Brian Todd wrote:Platform 4 was never designed to be in regular use - all trains were to use P1 to P3. P4 was used to stable trains for the evening peak to Manchester.
I could not believe that the first redesigned Blackburn RAilway Station could allow the platform where most passangers waited to be without a cover and had to add this protection as an extra.
Those planners thought little of the people who actua;ly pay for the railway.
.
I am of the opinion, however, that Blackburn Station is in the wrong place.
.
The whole building should have been demolished and moved back toward where Vue Cinema is now, a multi-storey car park built adjacent to it and the space at the front made vacant by the demolished original building used for a new undercover bus interchange.
.
It should also have been moved closer to Darwen Street Bridge, to allow a new entrance to be built there. As it is, the station is tucked away either in the bus station, or at the back of the cinema.
.
Again though, it shows a lack of forward planning and thinking on the part of the council to have a "master plan" for the town and instead taking each element of the town separately and not thinking "well, if this could be moved slightly...".
.
So many wasted opportunities...
doolish
says...
1:24pm Sun 23 Oct 11
johnley
says...
4:22pm Sun 23 Oct 11
doolish wrote:thanks for that mate, must se it agaian
the ship in the glass case on platform 2, was a model of The Viking of the Isle Of Man Steam Packet Co, it always belong to them and as far as i know is in their offices
richard
says...
11:20am Mon 24 Oct 11
etelegraph.co.uk/arc
hive/2002/04/22/Lanc
ashire+Archive/59731
25.Shipping_out_a_pi
ece_of_history/
johnley
says...
5:55pm Mon 24 Oct 11
richard wrote:nice one
Here you go: http://www.lancashir etelegraph.co.uk/arc hive/2002/04/22/Lanc ashire+Archive/59731 25.Shipping_out_a_pi ece_of_history/
richard
says...
9:42am Tue 25 Oct 11
"Whilst I do not know the full history of the model can confirm that there is a large model of the Viking in a glass case which is on display in the board room of our Imperial Buildings office here in Douglas. I feel sure that it is the same one as you describe in your e mail."
Noiticer
says...
9:46am Tue 25 Oct 11
happycyclist says...
9:38am Sat 22 Oct 11