The Morecambe & Lunesdale MP David Morris has today welcomed support from Lancashire County Council for his campaign to have the Lancaster to Morecambe railway line electrified.
Last month, the MP held a rail summit in his offices with representatives from rail companies and Network Rail to ascertain if it is possible to electrify the line.
David Morris MP said:
“The meeting was extremely positive, we discussed the fact that electrification could potentially increase the number of trains calling at Morecambe and more generally increased connectivity would encourage more people to use the train to travel between Lancaster, Morecambe and beyond.”
In a letter from Lancashire County Council, the Director of Transport and Environment wrote:
“Electrification of the branch should be a relatively low cost option in terms of infrastructure requirements and straight forward to implement. The county council will be giving the proposal due consideration in the preparation of the Lancaster Highways and Transport Masterplan, on which we hope to consult later this year.”
The recently published Network Rail Regional Urban Market Study has shown that more stops at Morecambe could increase rail market share.
David Morris added:
“Now that the Heysham M6 Link Road is under construction, we need to look at rail connectivity across Morecambe & Lunesdale. I have said for a long time more trains should stop at Carnforth and Silverdale. Now I would like to see the Lancaster to Morecambe line electrified which will be a convenient travel option for people wishing to travel to Lancaster.”