Retired railway manager ALEX GREEN advocates conversion of the Blackpool South branch to light rail as part of a wider package of improvements for the resort
Blackpool has recently enjoyed significant heavy rail investment, in the form of electrification of the line from Preston to Blackpool North. Through Avanti West Coast services from London, Warrington, Wigan and Preston serve the terminus along with Northern trains from Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton, Chorley and Leyland.
This has left the Blackpool South branch struggling to survive as an isolated diesel route and heavily loss-making. Some commentators, such as Eddie Graves (‘Forum’, September 2019 issue), advocate perpetuating the old diesel train service, when I believe there is a better solution.
A new tram extension is currently being built to Blackpool North, connecting the existing tram lines to heavy rail. If there was a financial future for heavy rail on the South branch or indeed the Fleetwood branch, they would have been included in the recent modernisation work, but all that could be justified was a modest resignalling scheme to reduce maintenance costs on the South branch and the removal of all points and crossings at Poulton-le-Fylde.
