Darwen Railway Station nears completion

Commuters can look forward to using the improved facilities at Darwen Railway station as work draws to a close.

The £400k project has seen fencing repaired and repainted, new shelters for passengers, new signs, a customer information system put in including a public announcement system and ticket machines.

Platforms have been resurfaced and tactile paving has been installed to help visually impaired customers.

The main construction work will soon be completed with a new CCTV system and state of the art customer information screens and train announcement system ithe last items to be installed.

Throughout the project night time working has been kept to a minimum to reduce disruption to residents and the station has remained open throughout avoiding disruption to rail travellers and reducing the costs of the works.

The station sees over 260,000 passengers use it every year.

Building on the improvements at the station the Council is also working with Network Rail to deliver the necessary infrastructure improvements to make services to Manchester more frequent.

The improvements are being funded through the National Station Improvement Programme matched by £200,000 from the Council.

Councillor Dave Harling, Executive Member for Regeneration, said the work was an important part of encouraging more residents to use public transport.

"For people to use public transport, which everyone agrees is better for a more sustainable future, we need to make it more attractive and more efficient for travellers.

“We have worked closely with Northern Rail to see this project completed with as little disruption to residents and to travellers as possible."