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  northwast o Preston.

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  an , 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
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.

The station wis recommended for shew-up in the Beeching Report (1963), but efter fleetchin bi Blackpool Corporation it wis Blackpool Central&#x2014;Blackpool's ither centrally-locatit station, but that's site wis better-suited for re-development&#x2014;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
In November 2010 it wis annunced that the lines atween  an Blackpool wad be electrified, alang wi the line atween Manchester an Preston.
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, 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). The remodelling required the station tae be halely closed for a significant speal (up tae 18 weeks accuirding tae Network Rail) 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.

## Faceelities
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, as weel as a customer service office an a booking office. 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. 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. The station awso has a 30-space car pairk, and adjyning bus connections, whit can awso accommodate Plusbus ticket holders.

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 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.

## Services

The station is served bi Northern an Virgin Trains.

* 1tpo tae Preston
* 1tpo tae Liverpool Lime Street
* 1tpo tae Manchester Piccadilly via Bolton
* 1tpo tae Manchester Airport via 
* 1tpo tae York via  (Sundays anely)
* 4tpd tae London Euston
* 1tpw frae Birmingham New Street

### Foregane Services
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. 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. First North Western briefly operatit a service atween Blackpool an London Euston. 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
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. 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
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  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. Alliance annunced at the same time its ettle tae reapply for track aiccess, uising redundant InterCity 225 sets tae stairt in 2019.
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: , , ,  an . Great North Western Railway plans tae stairt operating in September 2019.

## References


## External links

* Train times an station information for Blackpool North railwey station frae National Rail
* Blackpool & Fylde Rail Users’ Association&#x2014;Blackpool North, aiccessed 17 October 2007