There currently three main train services in East Lancashire. These comprise Colne to Preston (with most services continuing beyond Preston to Blackpool South), Leeds to Blackpool North (with some services starting from York or Scarborough), and Clitheroe to Manchester (with some services continuing to Rochdale). All of these services currently run approximately hourly, with a reduced service in the evenings and on Sundays.

The Colne to Preston, Clitheroe to Manchester and Leeds to Blackpool North services are currently operated by Northern Rail, more details can be obtained by either telephone on 0845 000 0125 or via the Northern website www.northernrail.org

One other service worth mentioning is the Summer Sundays Dales Rail service operated by First North Western Trains in conjunction with Lancashire County Council and the Rail Ramblers, during the summer two trains run from Blackburn (one starts from Blackpool North the other from Preston) calling at all stations to Clitheroe, before continuing to Hellifield (the only scheduled service to use this route), and then onto Carlisle over the Settle to Carlisle railway (again calling at all stations), the trains then return by the same route. More information can be found at the Dales Rail website.

For planning train journeys both in the East Lancs area and father a field why not use Network Rail's online journey planner which can be found by visiting their website.