FEARS are growing that East Lancashire will be left with a Third World railway service after the new operator insisted there was no new cash for rolling stock.

Serco-NedRailways will take over local services in the north from December 12 and says it has no plans to upgrade Pacer trains which run throughout the area.

The trains, known as railbuses because their seating is the same style as on a bus, are the only sort used on the Blackpool South to Colne route, and have been blasted by train watchdogs for being uncomfortable.

Serco-Ned said its nine-year deal with the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), run by Blackburn-educated Richard Bowker, involved improving punctuality, performance and reliability of services - not improving trains.

Around 200 Pacers have been running in the North West for nearly 20 years.

Serco-Ned's deal to take over from First NorthWestern, will run for up to nine years and comes with £2.4billion of public subsidy.

But John Mooney, regional director for the Rail Passengers Committee North West, said: "When passengers, who travel daily on very old and overcrowded trains and wait at stations with limited facilities, find out there is little prospect of modernisation, they will not be pleased."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "We are in danger of being left with a Third World rail service. You can travel up the West Coast Main Line on very good trains and change at Preston to come to East Lancashire on trains past their sell-by date."

In a report compiled for the rail industry on problems with types of trains, the RPC found nothing it liked about the Pacer trains, and criticised them for uncomfortable seats, poor ride quality and lack of disabled access.

A spokesman for Serco-Ned, said: "The franchise has been let on the basis that we take on existing rolling stock and operate it for the length of the franchise. We will be speaking to suppliers to see if there is a business case for improvements."

The service operating on East Lancashire's other railway line, from Clitheroe to Manchester via Blackburn and Darwen, uses both Pacer and slightly more modern Sprinter trains.

Serco-Ned's news is a second blow for train users in East Lancashire. In August, the Evening Telegraph revealed that the area's only express service, from Blackpool to York via Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley, would not benefit from a £100million upgrade in trains planned for the rest of the TransPennine network.

This is because the service has been downgraded from the TransPennine express franchise to the new Northern franchise, meaning, at best, it will keep the same standard of trains it already uses.