The new railway timetable to be introduced this weekend must deliver better services, says Lancashire County Council.

The changes that will be introduced on Sunday, December 11, will restore the frequency of many of the local rail services that were lost during Covid.

It is aiming to restore people’s confidence in travelling by rail by making services across the North West more regular and reliable.

Operators have been told however that passengers must see changes, and the county council’s leader and cabinet member for highways and transport have jointly written to train operators to stress this.

County councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “The new timetables starting on Sunday will bring back a number of Lancashire’s rail services which were lost in 2020.

“I’m pleased to see the restoration of these services which play a vital role in supporting Lancashire’s economy and enabling our residents to go about their day to day lives.

“It is, however, vital the improvements are delivered and the expectations of our travelling public are met. We will be monitoring very closely how the new timetable works in practice.”

The services that went ‘missing’ during Covid and will see more frequent journeys are:

  • East Lancashire (Preston - Colne)
  • West Lancashire (Preston - Ormskirk)
  • Clitheroe Line (Blackburn - Manchester via Bolton)
  • Liverpool Lime Street to Blackpool North
  • Todmorden Curve (Blackburn - Manchester Victoria via Burnley Manchester Road)
  • Kirkby to Wigan Wallgate lines

There will also be quicker, more direct options for Lancashire residents due to a change in the routing of trains from Cumbria to Manchester Airport, which will now operate via Chorley and Bolton instead of Wigan North Western.

In addition, there will now be four trains per hour operating between Preston, Chorley, Bolton, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport, and the hourly off-peak services to Adlington and Blackrod have been restored.

Further improvements to services through Lancashire include the restoration of services on Avanti West Coast’s North West England – London routes and an increase in TransPennine Express services operating directly between Manchester Airport, Preston, Lancaster and Glasgow/Edinburgh.

Cllr Swarbrick added: “On the whole the new timetable should be positive for passengers in Lancashire, however we will ensure our voice in heard as future investments in Central Manchester’s rail infrastructure offer the opportunity for future service improvements.

Ongoing strikes have caused major disruption to the railways in recent months, along with staff shortages which have seen a number of services - in particular Avanti and TransPennine Express - cancelled at short notice.

The strikes are set to continue throughout the festive period after the RMT rejected the latest pay offer to its members in the ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.