Posted 6th April 2016 | 8 Comments
New plans for Blackpool tram terminal
BLACKPOOL Borough Council has approved plans to acquire a building in the town's Talbot Road to make room for a new tram terminal at Blackpool North, which is the main station in the resort.
Work on a £22 million project to extend the present tram line along Talbot Road with a new spur from the seafront to the station is due to start in 2018, and the tram terminus will form part of a new interchange between trains and trams.
Councillor Fred Jackson, cabinet member for municipal assets, told the Blackpool Gazette: “Extending the tram line to the station will make it easier for commuters and tourists to move between the two and will also provide more opportunities to increase our visitor numbers – in turn creating more jobs and boosting the local economy.
“We cannot stand still and hope that Blackpool will grow without our help. We have to continue to be ambitious and enterprising to drive the town forward in ways that will increase jobs for our local people and improve the economic conditions for businesses.
“This is a tremendously large piece of work but I’m convinced the end product will be something that the town will look back on and be proud of."
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Neville Mason, Liverpool
Having demolished Pontins at Squire's Gate an easy connection could have been made from the tram terminus to the rail line. The land has been lost to a housing development. How very short sighted not have at least kept this option open!!
David Faircloth, Derby
Regarding Jim Campbell's comment, there certainly were trams running along Dickson Road to North station from Gynn Square; this was originally the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramway, and(from memory) closed in the early/mid 1960s.
However, there was also a tramway from the Promenade along Talbot Road to Layton which closed much earlier; this passed North station, and (according to a 1924 map I have of the Blackpool town centre tramway network) had a delta junction with the Dickson Road line adjacent to the original North/Talbot Road station .
Jim Campbell, Birmingham
There used to be trams to the old Blackpool North station, running along Dickson Rd, leaving the promenade at Gynn Sq.
The new line will be running up Talbot Rd from North Pier.
The big saving in cost comes from a bit of foresight for once. The junction with Primenade Lines were included in the recent revamp.
The building that is being demolished is on the site of the original station.
claydon william, Norwich, Norfolk
Perhaps the next infrastructure development in Blackpool, might see the conversion of the Blackpool South-Lytham-Kirkham line to tram-train as part of the Blackpool/Fylde tram network.
Perfect tram-train conversion project.......
John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire
Mmm, £22million now is it. It was £18million when I last looked. That's what comes of delay, delay, delay in a project first started in 2012. We never learn do we!!
Steve Alston, Crewe
It's a shame the squashed little station 'shed' at BPN cannot be levelled and rebuilt as a larger building with the roads remodelled around it, even considering demolishing the large shop opposite and rebuilding it as part of the station building.
The old station shed is very 'FNW'-ey.... decrepid, cramped and built at the cheapest cost.
David Faircloth, Derby
£22m seems incredibly cheap when compared against the cost of extending the NET system to Chilwell and Toton Lane.
However, if I remember correctly, what is now called Blackpool North comprises the excursion platforms of a much older and now demolished station which was originally called Talbot Road; this was once served by two tram routes, both of which connected it to the sea front and one was routed via Talbot Road (the other headed north towards Fleetwood).
So is the low cost due to it being basically a restoration of a long closed tram line with only minimum changes to utilities therefore being required?
Chris Green, Huddersfield
The tram network is heavily used as it gets you from A to B. It doesn't encourage a healthy lifestyle to those who like to be lazy, but connectivity to the main railway station, which should be part of the network already, is good.