Blackpool branch lines 2 miles of the M55 also occupy the former trackbed, until the Blackpool North line travels under the motorway at the point where the lines used to merge. The electrification of the Manchester to Blackpool North route was announced in December 2009. The main work of piling etc. to accomplish this commenced in early 2017. Bridgeworks along the route to raise and rebuild those that had insufficient clearance for overhead wires was completed first. Services over both the Blackpool South and Blackpool North branches temporarily ceased on 11 November 2017 to allow the track layout at Blackpool North and Kirkham
Blackpool Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort on the Lancashire coast in North West England. The town is on the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It had an estimated population of 139,720 at the 2011 Census, making it the most populous town in Lancashire. Throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, Blackpool was a coastal hamlet in Lancashire's Hundred of Amounderness, and remained such until the mid-18th century when it became fashionable in England to travel to the coast in the summer to improve