RAIL users in East Lancashire may have to wait more than a year before they see any money spent on refurbishing stations in the area.

Last month, Railtrack announced that about £4 million would be spent on giving Blackburn's dilapidated station a facelift.

And millions have been spent on other railway stations in the North West, with major work having taken place at Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport, Bolton and Preston.

But stations on the East Lancashire lines from Blackburn to Clitheroe, Burnley, Accrington, Nelson and Colne will have to wait much longer before money is spent on them.

Railtrack spokesman Nigel Barber, said: "We do have plans to regenerate stations other than Blackburn in East Lancashire. But plans are still very much at the feasibility stage and it will be into 1999 before any work begins. "That is the negative side: the positive side is that money will be put into these stations as part of our five-year programme for improvements to all stations in the North West.

"At the moment, we are not in a position to say exactly what form the work will take, but we can say that work on stations in Burnley, Accrington, Nelson and Colne would all start at roughly the same time."

Work on Blackburn station is scheduled to begin in January, next year.

A Lancashire County Council report earlier this year described the run-down station as a 'barrier' to rail travel throughout the rest of East Lancashire.

Rail campaigners in the East Lancashire have responded to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's recent pledge for increased emphasis on rail use by calling for more and improved services in East Lancashire to more destinations.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.