Clitheroe railway station

Clitheroe
Clitheroe railway station
General information
Location	Clitheroe, Ribble Valley England
Grid reference	SD741419
Managed by	Northern Trains
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	CLH
Classification	DfT category F2
Key dates
22 June 1850	Original station opened
1893/4	Station rebuilt
10 September 1962	Station closed
29 May 1994	Station reopened
Passengers
2018/19	0.264 million
2019/20	0.305 million
2020/21	93,220
2021/22	0.258 million
2022/23	0.287 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Clitheroe railway station serves the town of Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. The station is the northern terminus of the Ribble Valley line / Clitheroe Line operated by Northern Trains and is 10 miles (16 km) north of Blackburn. The station forms part of Clitheroe Interchange, which has won a number of awards.

History

The original station opened on 22 June 1850. It was replaced in 1893–4 by another approximately 220 yards (200 m) to the north. The station closed to normal services on 10 September 1962 (that is, before the Beeching cuts) but remained in use for special services until 7 February 1971. The special services resumed on 14 May 1990, and the station was fully reopened on 29 May 1994, when passenger services began again from Blackburn.

The line from here continues northwards towards Hellifield, but this section is normally used only by freight and engineering trains on weekdays; passenger services are limited to a pair of Saturday only Dalesrail, charter trains and occasional railtours. The line also forms part of a valuable strategic diversionary route between Preston and Carlisle, which is utilised if planned engineering work blocks the West Coast Main Line over Shap. (Though diverts are very rare). It has also been used in emergency for unplanned work between these locations. Terminating trains from the Blackburn direction run empty up to Horrocksford Junction to the north (where the former Ribble Cement (now Hansons) factory branch diverges from the main line) and use the crossover there to reverse and change lines prior to returning to the station.

The station has since become an award-winning bus and train transport interchange. The bus station, known as the Clitheroe Interchange, is the terminus for bus connections bringing passengers from towns and villages in the Ribble Valley area to the train service to Blackburn and Manchester. The Ribble Valley Line is a community railway line and is supervised by the Ribble Valley Rail group, which includes the train operator Northern.

Facilities

The station had a ticket office, which was next to the old station building (which is used as an art gallery). The ticket office, operated by Lancashire County Council rather than operator Northern, permanently closed from February 2020. It was staffed Monday to Friday. All tickets must now be purchased via mobile device or from the ticket machine on Platform 1. There are waiting shelters on both platforms (which are offset from each other) and train running details are provided via digital screens, signage, customer help points and automatic announcements. Step-free access is available on both sides.

Services

All train services are operated by Northern Trains. There is generally an hourly service daily from Clitheroe to Rochdale via Blackburn and Manchester Victoria with some extra trains during weekday peak hours. Northern used to operate a variety of train types on the route but now only operate a variety of Sprinter trains, including Class 150, Class 156 units.

For much of 2017 and 2018, Saturday and Sunday services to Manchester were either partially replaced by buses south of Bolton or diverted via Accrington and Todmorden while the Manchester to Preston Line was closed for electrification work.

On Sundays, one or two trains operated from Preston along the Ribble Valley Line via Clitheroe to Hellifield and onwards towards Carlisle via the Settle-Carlisle Line. This improves on the previous service that only ran in the summer. The Dales Rail service was suspended from the winter 2022 timetable change.

From June 2024 Northern run an amended service, operating Saturday's only. This sees 2 return trips from Rochdale to Ribblehead via Manchester Victoria, Bolton and Clitheroe. This is branded as the Yorkshire Dales Explorer rather than Dales Rail.

Due to overcrowding at certain times, there are plans from the Department for Transport to increase services from 1 tph to 2 tph; however, the funding for this may not be available.

• 
  The old station building, now converted into the Platform Gallery.
• 
  A view of platform 2 from the Platform Gallery.
• 
  A view of the old goods depot, now Booths supermarket.

References

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
• Welch, M.S. (2004) Lancashire Steam Finale, Runpast Publishing, Cheltenham, ISBN 1-870754-61-1

External links

• Train times and station information for Clitheroe railway station from National Rail
• Clitheroe Interchange - Lancashire County Council Environmental Directorate
• Ribble Valley Rail official website
• Video of Clitheroe Railway Station

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		Northern Trains Ribble Valley Line		Whalley
	Historical railways
Chatburn		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Blackburn Railway		Whalley