TWO rural railway stations plagued by vandals are to get a £40,000 CCTV security package.

Langho and Whalley stations, in the Ribble Valley, will be fitted with CCTV cameras and a public address system linked to Clitheroe Interchange in a bid to improve customer confidence.

Lancashire County Council is working in partnership with an organisation called Crime Concern, which undertakes studies to see how crime can be reduced.

It has selected the Clitheroe-Manchester Victoria line as a pilot route and, funded by the Department for Transport, is looking at how journeys on the route can be made safer for passengers.

If a success, and passenger numbers increase, then the scheme will be repeated on other routes across England.

A safety scheme of panic buttons and CCTV is currently being introduced at Ramsgreave and Wilpshire railway station, which was deemed to be the worst station of its kind for crime and passengers' fear of crime.

But now Whalley and Langho are to benefit, meaning that all the railway stations from Blackburn to Clitheroe will be covered by CCTV.

A report to the county council's cabinet member for highways and transportation, Coun Nora Ward, explained £23,000 would be provided by the Strategic Rail Authority, which runs the rail network.

The county council will pay £17,000 for the start-up costs, plus the annual costs of linking the CCTV cameras to Clitheroe, and the public address system.

A county council spokesman said: "The study undertaken by Crime Concern identified a number of potential problems at Langho and Whalley stations.

"These included vandalism of the station, anti-social behaviour at night, graffiti and the need to look to improve routes to the station to ensure passengers feel secure throughout the whole of their journey.

"The public address system will enable staff at the Clitheroe Interchange to announce if trains are running late, or cancelled, so people aren't left hanging around."

The county council is spending £625,000 on rail improvements this year.

It has allocated £110,000 for improvements to Chorley railway station, as part of the the new bus-rail interchange being created there.

And £200,000 is being spent to refurbish and rebuild Burnley Central station.