Accrington - Transport

Transport

The town has strong local travel links as Accrington railway station lies on the East Lancashire Line serving trains running locally and trains running from Blackpool to York. However, recent changes to the train timetables have been a disservice to Accrington, increasing the journey time to Preston (a vital link to London or Scotland) by up to 1.5 hours. However, there are still buses to Manchester every thirty minutes as well as more frequent services to other towns in east Lancashire. The main road running through the town centre is the A680 running from Rochdale to Whalley. The town is served by junction seven of the M65 and is linked from the A680 and the A56 dual carriageway which briefly merge; linking to the M66 motorway heading towards Manchester. The closest airports are Manchester Airport at 27 miles (43 km), Blackpool Airport at 28 miles (45 km) and Leeds Bradford Airport at 30 miles (48 km).

There was once a rail link south to Manchester via Haslingden and Bury, but this was closed in the 1960s as part of cuts following the Beeching Report. The trackbed from Accrington to Baxenden is now a linear treelined cycleway/footpath.As of November 2011 Hyndburn borough council has plans to re-open the rail link to manchester.

Small bus operators Pilkington Bus, M & M Coaches and its main competitor Transdev Lancashire United provide services in Accrington, with routes to places such as Blackburn, Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Burnley and Clitheroe.

Local groups have argued for a reinstatement of the rail link south to Manchester via Haslingden and Bury, that was closed in the 1960s. Proposals suggest a high speed rail think that would cut the journey time to manchester down to 20–25 minutes, possibly joining with the existing Metrolink services at Bury. Support groups have cited massive economic benefits for the deprived East Lancs area from business and commuter traffic.