AFTER spending a total of 12 hours of my weekend stuck on late and delayed trains, miserably reading other people's discarded newspaper supplements and buying over-priced cartons of Ribena, I'm thrilled at the news Blackburn may be getting more frequent trains to Manchester.

Improving the rail network could be the best thing that's ever happened to this town.

Because, let's face it, it's the only way Blackburn is ever likely to attract affluent professionals who have well-paid jobs in Manchester.

And when an area is viewed as a desirable place to live, investment and improvement aren't far away, which benefits us all.

At present those who live in Blackburn but work in Manchester have an arduous car journey on packed motorways in rush-hour traffic every morning and evening.

With Manchester's mushrooming economy the roads are getting busier and busier, making the journey stressful and miserable.

And if the government really is serious about reducing carbon emissions it should be doing everything it can to get us out of our cars and onto public transport.

If travelling to work was as simple as hopping on a regular half-hourly train it might just encourage families to make their money go further and invest in a property here and commute to work.

Contrary to popular opinion, Blackburn has a lot going for it, with plenty of cheap housing (compared to the rest of the country), areas of stunning natural beauty nearby and some of the friendliest people in the country.

Hopefully the extra trains will let us give other commuter towns a run for their money and make Blackburn a credible option.

Whether or not these trains will run on time is another matter...