JACK Straw was today setting the clock ticking on a £5million rail station project which will give Blackburn its own dome for the new millennium.

The Home Secretary and Blackburn MP removed the first screw from one of the two ornate station clocks which will be taken away and preserved while the massive Railtrack refurbishment project goes on.

The work is expected be completed half-way through the year 2000.

Railtrack today unveiled drawings of the futuristic glass and aluminium dome that will be built after the Victorian shed roof and dilapidated platform buildings are flattened.

The large wall facing the Boulevard will be partly demolished, and people in the bus station will be able to see trains come and go.

The first phase begins next week, when contractors start repairing and reinstating the long-disused platform four. Demolition of the old train hall will start in May, and work on the new building will start in July.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has incorporated the new railway station into its town centre action plan to open up the south of the town centre and the planned retail park in Audley to shoppers.

Councillor Andy Kay, Blackburn with Darwen regeneration chairman, said: "Railtrack's redevelopment of the train station is an integral part of the council's town centre action plan, which is set to regenerate the whole area."

Mr Straw was later presenting 30 certificates to firms involved in a project to train new workers.

Local companies have been awarded £200,000 in the Blackburn with Darwen Council scheme which encourages companies to take on previously unemployed workers.

The money was awarded to the council from the Single Regeneration Budget.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.