Network Rail's (NR) strategic route 23 [1] encompassed mainly the English rural railway lines of Lancashire and Cumbria. It excluded the part of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) that bisects the counties. It included the following lines:
Network Rail is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an arm's length public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways.
Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. The administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300 and an area of 1,189 square miles (3,080 km2). People from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians.
Cumbria is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county, and the only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the southwestern tip of the county.
- the Settle and Carlisle line from Skipton to Carlisle
- the Cumbrian Coast line from Carnforth to Carlisle via Sellafield and Workington
- the Roses line from Preston to Burnley Manchester Road/Hall Royd Junction, and the branch to Burnley Central and Colne
- the Blackburn to Hellifield line via Clitheroe, part of the Ribble Valley Line
- the Hellifield (Settle Junction) to Carnforth line via Wennington
- the Hellifield to Skipton line
- the Ormskirk to Farrington Curve Junction (near Preston) line
- the Oxenholme to Windermere branch of the WCML
- various freight-only branches and chords, including in the Carlisle area
Skipton railway station is a Grade II listed station which serves the town of Skipton in North Yorkshire, England on the Airedale Line, which gives Skipton access to destinations such as Leeds, Bradford, Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe. The station is operated by Northern and is situated 27 miles (43 km) north-west of Leeds.
Carlisle railway station, or Carlisle Citadel, is a Grade II* listed railway station serving the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, England. It is on the West Coast Main Line, 102 miles (164 km) south east of Glasgow Central, and 299 miles (481 km) north north west of London Euston. It is the northern terminus of the Settle and Carlisle Line, a continuation of the Midland Main Line from Leeds, Sheffield and London St Pancras.
Carnforth railway station serves the town of Carnforth in Lancashire, England. The building was designed by architect William Tite and was used as a location in the 1945 film Brief Encounter. It is now operated by Northern and situated 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Lancaster on the West Coast Main Line.
Some of these routes and/or services are designated as Community Rail Partnerships (CRP):
- East Lancashire CRP [2] (Preston to Colne service)
- West of Lancashire CRP [3] (Southport to Wigan, Ormskirk to Preston)
- Lakes Line CRP [4] (Oxenholme to Windermere)
- Clitheroe Line CRP [5] (Manchester to Clitheroe service).
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was constructed on part of the former station site in the 1990s. Opened in 1844 and part of the Manchester station group, Victoria is Manchester's third busiest railway station after Piccadilly and Oxford Road and the second busiest station managed by Northern after Oxford Road.
In 2010, Network Rail restructured its route categorisation. Routes 10, 20 and 23, and parts of Routes 9 and 11, were merged into Strategic Route H: Cross-Pennine, Yorkshire & Humber and North West. [6]
