THREE years after the multi million pound modernisation of Blackburn railway station the council may be about to go to the government for cash to finish the job properly.

One of the reasons cited for the move is that the number of train journeys being made from the station has dropped by 20 per cent in two years despite the £6m refit.

Anyone who has used the station regularly will understand the reduction.

The phrase used to explain it is "comfort" issues - a euphemism for the fact that passengers on the busiest of the four platforms are more exposed to wind and rain than they were on the original Victorian station.

The other reason given for fewer travellers is unreliable services.

In short, people will not stand for getting wet while waiting for a train which may not turn up - hardly a surprising scenario.

What is surprising is that this farcical situation was ever allowed to develop in the first place.

Common sense should have made it obvious to both Network Rail and the council that people would turn to cars rather than put up with such inconvenience.

Now lost passengers have to be won back before they can even think of persuading existing drivers that train travel is a better option.