| East Lancashire line | |
| System: | National Rail |
| Locale: | Lancashire Blackburn Burnley Pendle North West England |
| Open: | 1849 |
| Owner: | Network Rail |
| Operator: | Northern |
| Tracks: | Mainly Double Track, with Single Track from Burnley Barracks to Colne |
| Map: | (Click to expand) |
| Map State: | uncollapsed |
The East Lancashire line is a railway line in the Lancashire region of England, which runs between Preston and Colne, through Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley (Barracks and Central) and Nelson. The line formerly ran onto Skipton but this closed in 1970.
It is operated by Northern. Services on this line stop at every station on the line, although Pleasington, Hapton and Burnley Barracks are now request stops only.[1] It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in November 2006.[2]
The line was built by the Blackburn and Preston Railway and the Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington and Colne Extension Railway. Both companies were absorbed by the East Lancashire Railway on 3 August 1846 and 21 July 1845 respectively. The East Lancashire Railway was, in turn, absorbed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on 13 May 1859.
The line connected end-on at Colne with the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway's line to and Bradford. This NaNmiles link closed in 1970.[3] The Skipton–East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership campaigns to reinstate it. The section from Colne to was singled the following year, with the rest of the line to Gannow Junction being so treated in December 1986.
In the 1870s the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway built the North Lancashire Loop (also known as the Great Harwood Loop), a 9miles route through Great Harwood, Simonstone and Padiham, which bypassed Accrington. The line between Padiham and Rose Grove opened in 1875; west of Padiham it opened two years later as a result of difficulties in constructing the embankments between Great Harwood and Simonstone. Regular use of the North Lancashire Loop ceased in 1957; the route closed completely in 1964, with only the section from Rose Grove to Padiham Power Station remaining until 1993.[4]
Trains from Preston to Colne usually begin at Blackpool South, on the Blackpool branch line, which makes the whole length of the line a total of 80km (50miles).
Services via the Roses line routing encompass the Calder Valley line semi-fast trains from Blackpool North stopping at Preston, Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley Manchester Road, heading towards West Yorkshire, currently terminating at York. Since May 2015, trains from Blackburn to Manchester Victoria via also uses this route, providing a direct link from Accrington and Burnley to Manchester via .