VITAL improvements needed on the Furness and Lakes railway lines will not be completed by the promised timetable of May 2018.

Last week Network Rail confirmed due to increasingly difficult construction conditions, the electrification of the Preston to Manchester line had been pushed back. As a consequence planned improvements intended for rail links in Cumbria will be hit with delays of their own.

Commuters in south Cumbria have long been promised in spite of frequent delays and cancelled trains, the reward of improvements on the line would be in place by May 2018. Now this promise has been kicked into the long grass MP for Barrow and Furness, John Woodcock, has vented the frustrations of not only himself but of his constituents.



John Woodcock and partners at a meeting of the CBC group, in December. He said: "This knock-on effect of broken government promises on electrification is another huge let down for frustrated Furness line passengers who were told to endure poor services because big improvements were on their way in the spring.

"People will be rightly angry with the government for causing this particular mess but it is still not good enough for Northern to pull the May 2018 timetable without offering any sense of when we will get the improved services we desperately need.

“We need answers from the company and the department for transport; this will be top of the agenda at the next meeting of our Cumbria Better Connected forum if it is not resolved before then.”

Director for performance and planning at Northern, Rob Warnes, said the company's commitment to completing the project and minimising disruption.

"This is disappointing news for our customers who will have a longer wait, with more disruption, before they can experience the service enhancements Manchester to Bolton electrification will make possible," he said.

"We are committed to working with our industry partners to complete the project to its revised schedule, while doing everything we can to minimise disruption to customer journeys. We will share more detail on any changes the delayed electrification work will have on planned improvements for the May 2018 timetable change as soon as we can."

Network Rail said the delays are as a result of ground conditions being more challenging than first anticipated. A spokesman from Network Rail said: "Unexpected running sand and hard rock in the vicinity of old uncharted shallow mine workings have slowed progress to electrify the line between Manchester and Preston via Bolton. The line was due to be ready for new electric trains by May 2018 but it is now set to be ready in the summer, in advance of the rail industry’s December timetable change.

"In a conscious bid to avoid disrupting weekday commuters, Network Rail has agreed with train companies to carry out its additional work at weekends, meaning buses replace trains."

Last year Mr Woodcock reformed the Cumbria Better Connected group in an effort to lobby for improved transport links in south Cumbria. The group will meet for its first meeting of 2018 on Friday February 9, in the Supper Room of Ulverston's Coronation Hall, at midday.