HARD on the heels of John Prescott's bid to get car drivers in congested and polluted Britain to switch to public transport comes a timely call today for a big rail revival in the North West.

For in rapping Railtrack for planning to spend just £4million of its £380million profits on new stations in the region, campaigners belonging to the Rail Development Society were demanding far more.

Indeed, in East Lancashire alone, they want ten new stations on the line between Preston and Colne, another three between Bolton and Blackburn and passenger services extended beyond Clitheroe to Hellifield.

The case is simple: For more people to switch to it, rail travel needs to be much more convenient.

Hence the demand for many more stations.

Yet the question is whether a privatised rail system, inevitably putting shareholders before passengers, will invest in renewal to the extent and pace that is necessary for a rail revival to figure successfully in the drive to cut back on car use.

And earlier this year, stung by similar criticisms by the rail regulator, the company revealed £250million spending plans for the North West in the coming year - only for transport chiefs at Lancashire County Hall to declare that the region's railways urgently needed billions of pounds worth of investment. Yet the frustrating reality is that all this involves rebuilding what has been run-down.

For the North West has an extensive rail infrastructure, but it is one hit by years of neglect and excessive Sixties surgery inspired by the misguided priority given to the then-emergent roads and car culture.

It may be, as with the restoration of passenger services on the Blackburn-Clitheroe route and Manchester's hugely successful Metrolink, that steps have been taken to reverse this damage.

But those steps are minimal both in terms of what needs to be done and the opportunities the existing infrastructure offers - such as a Metrolink-type system serving East Lancashire.

Mr Prescott may have to signal government intervention and funding if all that needs to be done is done and at a rate that is sufficient for an efficient, clean, frequent and accessible rail service to begin to reduce the congestion and pollution on the roads.

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