Wikipedia

Blackpool North railwey station

Blackpool North railwey station is the main station serving the seaside howff o Blackpool in Lancashire, Ingland. It is the terminus o the main Blackpool brainch line an is 17 1⁄2 mile (28 km) northwast o Preston.

Blackpool North National Rail
Blackpool North railway station entrance
Location
PlaceBlackpool
Local authorityBlackpool
Coordinates53°49′18″N 3°02′57″W / 53.8218°N 3.0493°W / 53.8218; -3.0493Coordinates: 53°49′18″N 3°02′57″W / 53.8218°N 3.0493°W / 53.8218; -3.0493
Grid referenceSD310366
Operations
Station codeBPN
Managed biNorthern
Nummer o platforms6
DfT categoryC1
Live arrivals/departurs, station information an onwart connections
frae National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger uissage*
2013/14Decrease 1.653 million
2014/15Increase 1.758 million
2015/16Increase 1.764 million
2016/17Increase 1.858 million
History
Oreeginal companyPreston and Wyre Joint Railway
Pre-groupinLYR and LNWR joint
Post-groupinLondon Midland and Scottish Railway
29 April 1846Opened as Blackpool[1]
1872Renamed Blackpool Talbot Road[1]
1898Rebuilt[2]
17 March 1932Renamed Blackpool North[1]
1974Rebuilt on site of former excursion platforms
National Rail – UK railwey stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimatit passenger uissage based on sales o tickets in statit financial year(s) that end or oreeginate at Blackpool North frae Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology mey vary year on year.
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The station wis appened in its praisent shape in 1974, an succeeded a previous station a few hunder yairds awa on Talbot Road whit haed first appened in 1846 an haed been rebuilt in 1898. The praisent station is based on the 1938 concrete pail whit kivert the entry tae the foregane vaige platforms o the auld station. Blackpool's ither station, Blackpool South, is seetuatit in the sooth o the toun, wi services taewart Preston an Colne, an disna connect tae Blackpool North.

Blackpool North haes regular services tae Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Wigan an Preston. Thare are fower interceety trains a day tae London Euston.

History eedit

The first station appened on 29 Apryle 1846 as Blackpool, renamed Blackpool Talbot Road in 1872, an wis first rebuilt in 1898. The rebuilt station conseested o twa parpone train shiels an a terminal biggin, in Dickson Road atween Talbot Road an Queen Street. Platforms 1 tae 6 war locatit in the shiels, wi a lairger island atween platforms 1 an 2 tae accommodate taxis. In addeetion, thare wis effectively, in aw but name, a separate station at the east end o Queen Street, wi appen "excursion" platforms 7 tae 16, uised anely in simmer.[3]

The station wis recommended for shew-up in the Beeching Report (1963), but efter fleetchin bi Blackpool Corporation it wis Blackpool Central—Blackpool's ither centrally-locatit station, but that's site wis better-suited for re-development—whit closed in 1964.

The main station biggins, train shiel & platforms war decommissioned an demolished in 1974, replaced bi the current station based on the foregane vaige platforms.

Electrification eedit

In November 2010 it wis annunced that the lines atween Preston an Blackpool wad be electrified, alang wi the line atween Manchester an Preston.[4] This resulted in the semaphore seegnalling at the station being replaced bi modren colour lichts controlled frae the WCML North Rail Operating Centre in Manchester an the station track & platform ootset altered (the eicht boued platforms war reduced tae sax an on a strauchter linement than afore). The project wis due for completion bi Mey 2016,[5] wi the line onwarts tae Manchester following bi the end o the year. This wis subsequently pousst back twice - first tae Mairch 2017 an then again tae early 2018 (efter contractors Balfour Beatty pullt oot) so that the track remodelling & re-signalling wark coud be cairried oot at the same time as the wiring, reducing disruption tae passengers (as anely ane feck o closur wad be required).[6][7] The remodelling required the station tae be halely closed for a significant speal (up tae 18 weeks accuirding tae Network Rail[8]) wi addeetional weekend & evenin blocks aither side. Replacement buses tae Preston operatit in the closur.

The station wis closed till 16 Apryle 2018 for the wark tae tak place.[9]

Faceelities eedit

As can be expectit o a terminus railwey station for a lairge toun, it is staffed an appen for 24 oors a day, an is geart wi peyphones, vending machines, toilets an indoor seating,[10] as weel as a customer service office an a booking office.[11] Stap-free aiccess tae the station an platform is available for passengers wi wheelchairs or prams, an portable ledges are awso available for platform to train aiccess.[10] The station haes its awn kivert concourse an, adjyning the concourse, it haes a Pumpkin cafe, as weel as a Point shop to Go convenience store.[11] The station awso has a 30-space car pairk,[10] and adjyning bus connections, whit can awso accommodate Plusbus ticket holders.[12]

As Blackpool is a popular tourist resort, wi its famous Pleasure Beach an beaches, thare are mony measures put in tae prevent fare evasion, including automated barrier checks[13] as weel as the conductors on the train.

The station is aboot hauf a mile alang Talbot Road frae the Blackpool tramwey, whit is tae be stendit tae the station in 2018/19 as pairt o a new transport interchange.[14]

 
A panorama o the interior o Blackpool North station

Services eedit

 
A Northern Class 319 EMU at Blackpool North in 2018. Blackpool Tower is in the backgrund.

The station is served bi Northern an Virgin Trains.[15]

Foregane Services eedit

First TransPennine Express uised tae rin the service tae Manchester Airport, but it wis passed ontae the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016. Virgin CrossCountry uised tae rin up tae 8 services per day tae Blackpool North frae Portsmouth Harbour, Brighton an London Paddington.[16][17] The services war introduced bi Virgin tae increase the frequency o the CrossCountry trains an war introduced in 2000. They war reteert in summer 2003 bi the Strategic Rail Authority tae impruive the general pyntity o train services.[18] First North Western briefly operatit a service atween Blackpool an London Euston.[19][20] Northern services tae Leeds an York on weekdays war temporarly reteert afore the stairt o electrification wark in November 2017, but are due tae resume in Mey 2019.

Interceety services eedit

Blackpool North wis on the InterCity netwark till 2003 whan Virgin Trains West Coast an Virgin CrossCountry reteert High Speed Train an Voyager services tae London Euston an Birmingham.[21] Foregane local franchise haulder First North Western ran services frae Blackpool tae London Euston, but thir war suin disconteenad. Houaniver, in the December 2014 timetable chynge, Virgin reintroduced direct services tae/frae London Euston awbeit anely on weekdays an anely ane ilk wey a day. As o Mey 2018, thare are fower trains a day tae/frae London Euston.

Futur services eedit

In 2015, Alliance Rail Holdings, a company that formulates an implements appen access rail proposals, was awairdit the richt tae stairt rinnin sax ordinar daily passenger services atween Blackpool an London, tae be operatit bi appen aiccess operator Grand Central uisin specially built Class 390 EMUs. Houaniver, the company wis unable tae obteen the relevant permeessions tae uise this ilk o rowing stock, an so alloued its aiccess richts tae sleep in Juin 2017.[22] Alliance annunced at the same time its ettle tae reapply for track aiccess, uising redundant InterCity 225 sets tae stairt in 2019.[22][23] In Juin 2018, the Office o Rail an Road appruived an application for 5 direct services per day frae Blackpool North tae London Euston cawing at: Poulton-le-Fylde, Kirkham & Wesham, Preston, Nuneaton an Milton Keynes Central. Great North Western Railway plans tae stairt operating in September 2019.[24][25]

References eedit

  1. ↑ a b c Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. ↑ Hartley, S. and Mitchell, L. (2005) "Lancashire Historic Town Survey—Blackpool" (PDF).[deid airtin] (25.5 MiB), Lancashire County Council Environment Directorate, accessed 30 October 2007, p.23
  3. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  4. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  5. ↑ Network Rail - Electrification in the North West Network Rail website; Retrieved 2013-08-28
  6. ↑ "Electrification to be shunted back into 2017' Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback MachineBlackpool Gazette news article 21-06-2014; Retrieved 0 September 2014
  7. ↑ "Railway all set to get back on track by 2018" Archived 2018-12-12 at the Wayback MachineLancashire Evening Post 26 January 2016; Retrieved 6 June 2016
  8. ↑ "Rail line to close for up to 18 weeks" Stocks, Rob Blackpool Gazette 6 July 2016; Retrieved 16 August 2016
  9. ↑ "North West Electrification - Preston to Blackpool North" Archived 2017-09-15 at the Wayback Machine Network Rail news article; Retrieved 15 September 2017
  10. ↑ a b c Empty citation (help)
  11. ↑ a b Empty citation (help)
  12. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  13. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived frae the original on 4 Apryle 2016. Retrieved 13 Februar 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ↑ GB National Rail Timetable May 2018 Edition, Tables 41, 65, 82 and 97
  16. ↑ [1]
  17. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  18. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  19. ↑ Train Stations
  20. ↑ "New Blackpool-London services to start this May" Rail issue 322 14 January 1998 page 10
  21. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  22. ↑ a b Alliance drops Pendolino plan as Southampton paths identified Archived 2017-06-19 at the Wayback Machine Railway Gazette International 19 July 2017
  23. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  24. ↑ Empty citation (help)
  25. ↑ Empty citation (help)

External links eedit

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Terminus   Northern

Blackpool Branch Line 		  Layton
Terminus   Northern

Blackpool to Liverpool line

Preston to Manchester line


  Poulton-le-Fylde
Terminus   Northern

Calder Valley line

(Sundays only) 		  Poulton-le-Fylde
Terminus   Virgin Trains

WCML Blackpool Branch 		  Preston
    Poulton-le-Fylde
  Future Services  
Terminus   Northern Connect

Blackpool North - Manchester Airport
   Preston
Terminus   Northern Connect

Blackpool North - York
   Preston
Terminus   Great North Western Railway

WCML Blackpool to London 		  Poulton-le-Fylde
Disused railways
Terminus   Preston and Wyre Joint Railway

Blackpool Branch Line 		  Bispham
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