Darwen railway station

Darwen National Rail
Darwen railway station looking north in 2014
Location
Place Darwen
Local authority Blackburn with Darwen
Coordinates 53°41′53″N 2°27′54″W / 53.698°N 2.465°W / 53.698; -2.465Coordinates: 53°41′53″N 2°27′54″W / 53.698°N 2.465°W / 53.698; -2.465
Grid reference SD694225
Operations
Station code DWN
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13 Increase 0.309 million
2013/14 Increase 0.319 million
2014/15 Increase 0.327 million
2015/16 Decrease 0.235 million
2016/17 Increase 0.323 million
History
Key dates Opened 1847 (1847)
Original company Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway
Pre-grouping Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Post-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway
3 August 1847 (1847-08-03) Opened as Over Darwen
1 December 1883 Renamed Darwen
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Darwen from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Darwen railway station serves Darwen, a town in Lancashire, England. It was opened in 1847 by the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe & West Yorkshire Railway, which was subsequently taken over by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway twelve years later. It is now served by Northern services on the Ribble Valley Line from Manchester Victoria/Bolton to Blackburn and into Clitheroe.

Darwen is set amongst the hills of East Lancashire. Arriving from or departing towards Bolton involves journeying through the long Sough Tunnel, some 2,015 yd (1,843 m) in length.

History

The railway line between Blackburn (Bolton Road) and Bolton was built by the Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton Railway, but it had amalgamated with the Blackburn, Clitheroe and North Western Junction Railway to form the Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe and West Yorkshire Railway by the time that the first section, from Blackburn to Sough, including the station at Over Darwen, 4 1⁄4 miles (6.8 km) from Blackburn, was opened on 3 August 1847. The station was renamed Darwen on 1 December 1883.[1][2]

The neighbouring stations either side which also served the area, at Lower Darwen and Spring Vale, were both closed in 1958 and the nearest surviving station to the south is now Entwistle.

Facilities

The station has two platforms. It is one of only two passing points on the otherwise single track Blackburn to Bolton part of the route, but trains normally cross here only in the morning and evening peak periods. The loop was extended in length by a mile (1.6km) either side of the station during a six-week-long engineering blockade in July & August 2015 to increase capacity on the line and eventually allow a half-hourly service to operate (as specified in the new Northern franchise agreement, due to come into effect in April 2016).[3]

The station is currently unstaffed, with waiting shelters on each platform; step-free access is available to both.[4] Ticket machines are available, along with a long-line P.A system and passenger information screens to convey train running information.

Services

Since the December 2017 timetable change, the weekdays and Saturday service to Blackburn northbound and to Bolton and Manchester Victoria southbound is now half-hourly all day.[5] Alternate northbound trains continue through to Clitheroe, whilst nearly all southbound trains continue beyond Manchester to Rochdale. On Sundays the service is usually hourly to both Clitheroe and Manchester, though ongoing engineering blockades on the line through Bolton (as part of the heavily delayed Manchester to Preston Line electrification project) have seen the weekend service modified (with buses in operation for parts of the journey) for much of 2018.

References

  1. ↑ Marshall, John (1969). The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, volume 1. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 178, 181. ISBN 0-7153-4352-1.
  2. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. pp. 179, 77. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. ↑ "Engineering work between Clitheroe and Manchester"Northern Rail news article 9 June 2015; Retrieved 15 September 2015
  4. ↑ Darwen station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 9 December 2016
  5. ↑ GB eNRT May 2018 Edition, Table 94
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Blackburn   Northern
Ribble Valley Line		   Entwistle or
Bromley Cross
  Historical railways  
Lower Darwen
Line open, station closed		   Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton Railway		   Spring Vale
Line open, station closed
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