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New Burnley railway station building to finally open in November

Burnley’s Manchester Road station is set to open next week after a deal was ironed out between the council and Northern Rail.

The station building has stood virtually complete, but vacant, since last summer as energy efficiency improvements were needed so that the building would meet regulations.

In September it was indicated that the station building would be ready for an opening in October, but now borough council chief executive Steve Rumbelow has signalled it will be mid-November before passengers can take advantage of the new ticket office.

Rumbelow told the Lancashire Telegraph: “There have been technical issues with the new Manchester Road railway station building.

“We have been working with Lancashire County Council to resolve these issues and to achieve a handover of the building to Northern Rail, who will operate the building on a lease from the county council.

“Northern Rail has engaged really positively and worked pragmatically to put in place arrangements which allow it to open the building and operate it while the technical details of the long-term lease are worked out with the county council.

"As a result we are now working to open the station during the week commencing November 17. We will confirm the exact date in the next few days.”

Council leader Cllr Mark Townsend added: "This has been a frustrating few months and I am pleased for the sake of commuters that Northern Rail has stepped up to enable the building to be opened."

The news has put to rest fears that the station might not open until the first trains were operational for the long-awaited faster East Lancashire to Manchester service.

The new service will not start until next May, because signalling infrastructure had not been installed by Network Rail on one end of the reinstated Todmorden Curve.

The new station building was partially funded by Citizens’ Rail, an EU project to develop local and regional railways by involving the community.

(Images: c. Citizens’ Rail)

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