East Lancs Railway looks to double visitor numbers

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8:26 am, June 4, 2009
East Lancs Railway looks to double visitor numbers

East Lancashire Railway Company, the business which runs the historic 13-mile railway line between Bury and Ramsbottom, is planning to double visitor number to 200,000 a year over the next decade after employing specialist consultants Locum to identify ways of increasing revenues.

The company is now investigating future development opportunities for the line, including a new railway heritage centre in Bury and plans to improve stations and visitor experiences at Heywood and Rawtenstall.

Locum’s report said that the company that runs the trains and the trust that is ultimately responsible for the 13-mile line along which it runs, generates around £4m a year for the local economy. It also argues that the work put in by volunteers running the service is worth a further £1.5m.

It states that in order to grow visitor numbers to the level required, it will need to boost the number of ‘core visitors’ using the service rather than relying on special one-=off events such as its Wartime Weekends or War Weekends and Santa Specials.

To achieve this, though, it needs to give visitors more things to do, such as stops along the route at Bury’s Burrs Country Park. It also needs to consider bringing in paid experts in marketing and commercialization rather than relying on what it describes as “a small number of extremely able volunteers”.

“The additional costs of increasing the paid workforce will have to be met from the additional revenue generated, so there is clearly some risk involved,” said Chris Melia, Manchester-based director for Locum Consulting, which is part of property agency Colliers CRE. “Ensuring that the company has the capacity and skills to deliver the strategy, however, is the biggest single issue which needs to be addressed. It is very unlikely that the current structure will be able to cope with the demands which come from such an ambitious programme.”

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