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BOLTON NEWS article:
Train group on track for action
5:30pm Thursday 28th May 2009
A SPECIALIST group which aims to improve Lostock’s
rail service is officially up and running — and ready
to take action.
Angry members of the Lostock Residents’ Association
decided to form a rail sub-group after wide-ranging timetable
changes left them with a reduced service.
More than 50 people, including councillors and prospective
parliamentary candidates, packed an upstairs room at Lostock
Community Centre as the group called its first meeting on
Tuesday night.
Six residents volunteered to form a committee, and the group
will now petition rail bosses and the Government in an attempt
to improve services from Lostock station.
Residents in the area are furious after they spent eight
years campaigning to have the station’s car park expanded,
only to see their timetable “decimated” when the
work was finally completed.
Residents’ Association chairman Roy Walmsley pledged
that the group would achieve some of its aims by December
14 this year, the first anniversary of the timetable changes.
The group’s main objectives are to get more trains
to stop at the station and more carriages at peak times.
Mr Walmsley said: “I think it’s causing an awful
lot of strife, and not just locally, as people travel to Lostock
station because it’s more convenient than Bolton.
“By preventing trains stopping at Lostock, it’s
going to increase road congestion into Bolton and into Manchester,
and it’s already terrible into Manchester.”
Labour candidate Julie Hilling said the group should identify
a few key priorities and campaign to obtain them.
She said: “We need to decide what issues are the most
important and campaign on those.”
Liberal Democrat candidate Jackie Pearcey said local services
were losing out because of the Government’s drive to
increase long-distance intercity services.
She said: “It doesn’t help that most of the decisions
are made in London.”
Train company Trans-Pennine Express last week admitted Lostock’s
direct train had been cut at the expense of more profitable
long-distance services.
But Northern Rail, which provides the bulk of the station’s
trains, insisted it was now providing a better service that
saw more trains calling at Lostock — although most now
head for Manchester’s Victoria Station instead of more
commuter-friendly city centre destinations.
The results
of our recent Train Survey are now in. Comments and personal
details are not visable due to Data Protection. If you require
further information, please do not hesitate to contact us
at lostockresidentsgroup@googlemail.com
You can find all the information about commuters Train/Rail
fight on our Lostock Station Users
page
Newsletter
Spring 2009
Our Website is an addition to our paper communications, and
will not replace either the Newsletter or the alert letters
relating to those Planning Applications which are brought
to our attention by concerned neighbours. Everyone will still
receive an individual hand-delivered Newsletter. The whole
area (1400 households) will continue to receive alert letters
for major issues. For more localised issues, the website will
enable residents to see what is going on outside their immediate
area.
We would welcome feedback on this new venture.Please
email the Chairman.
Incidentally, if any residents wish to receive information
by e-mail, we would be happy to include you on our bulk e-mail.
Again, this is an additional means of notification. You will
still receive a paper copy.
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