RAIL enthusiasts are hoping an alliance forged across the Pennines will help develop rail travel between Pendle and the Yorkshire Dales in future years.

Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) has teamed up with the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway (E&BASR) in a bid to strengthen their respective cases for better rail links between the Dales and East Lancashire. SELRAP chairman Steve Broadbent said the alliance would be mutually beneficial.

He said: "There is considerable potential for rail travel to the Grassington and Bolton Abbey lines from Pendle and East Lancashire and, by developing travel along this corridor, not only will services on the branch lines be more commercially successful, but also the case for the Skipton-Colne re-opening will be made even better as demand for travel along the corridor grows.

"Public transport between East Lancashire and the Grassington and Bolton Abbey areas is very poor, so those without cars are largely denied the recreational opportunities the Dales offer.

"The E&BASR, along with the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and other local councils and bodies, all want to see passenger trains running once again from the Grassington branch line and Bolton Abbey in to Skipton station. SELRAP will add its voice to those supporting this development and, when the goal is achieved, it will work to attract East Lancashire residents to those services, ahead of the Colne-Skipton railway being re-laid."

Stephen Walker, E&BASR business manager, said: "We very much welcome this initiative by SELRAP. Bolton Abbey and the Grassington area are magnets for tourists and the roads are often choked with visitors -- the more tourists we can get onto the railway, the more will people be able to enjoy the Dales, and the less pollution and congestion there will be in the area."

SELRAP campaigns for the safeguarding of the former railway trackbed from Skipton to Colne from any development, so it can continue to be used for walking and cycling until the restoration of the railway as a full inter-regional route becomes feasible.