What surprises me is that (whilst there's not a lot of paths south of Bolton for additional Manchester - Blackburn services) there's been no attempt to switch the services at Blackburn into
- Manchester - Blackburn - Burnley - Colne
- Blackpool South - Preston - Blackburn - Colne
That would give Burnley/ Altricham a regular service to Manchester. Presumably this would require an extra DMU though, so the services are being run more for operational convenience than for passenger demand.
At least those in East Lancashire are getting the chord at Todmorden (£8.8 million quid for half a mile makes Crossrail look cheap...) which will give Altricham/ Burnley a direct link to Rochdale/ Manchester next year, so there's some light at the end of the tunnel. And whilst there's little prospect of improvement at the Blackpool South end, the electrification to Blackpool North will mean more capacity on that line (longer EMUs replacing Pacers/ Sprinters).
As previously discussed, SELRAP seems a real waste of time, in terms of all the other things we could be spending money on.
To some extent, East & Central Lancashire suffered from neglect, even before the Marples - Beeching closures, with irregular / infrequent services. However, back in 1952, you could travel (by steam) from Accrington to Manchester Victoria in 40 minutes, calling only at Salford (57 mins from Burnley Central, 71 mins from Colne.) That was just one train per day, but a few trains took about 45 to 47 mins, from Accrington, if they called at Ramsbottom, Bury Bolton St. and / or Clifton Junction.
A main problem with the Bury/Ramsbottom - Accrington line was that it ran near the foot of a valley, whilst most of the people lived on the hillside near the top of the valley, so intermediate stations (Helmshore, Haslingden, Baxenden) could not compete with frequent buses running near the houses.
If there were unlimited funds and I was in control, I would reorganise services in the area as follows.
1. Redouble & electrify Kirkham to a new Blackpool Central station. 2 trains per hour, one calling at St. Annes, Lytham, Kirkham, Preston, Chorley, Bolton, Manchester stations; the other would call all stations to Manchester Victoria.
2. 1 train per hour, Preston, all stations to Rose Grove, then to Burnley Manchester Road, Todmorden, Rochdale & Manchester Victoria.
(Blackpool - Bradford/Leeds/York to continue as now, but track over Copy Pit line improved to allow speeds up to 75 mph)
3. Redouble Bolton - Blackburn (apart from the troublesome Sough Tunnel).
1 train per hour Manchester - Clitheroe (as now)
1 train per hour Manchester Victoria - Bolton, then Darwen, Blackburn, Accrington, Rose Grove & then all stations to Colne. (With good connections to/from Preston at Rose Grove.)