Burscough Bridge railway station
[9] The South Curve was singled in 1970, but remained in use to serve the extensive sidings at the MOD depot located just to the north of Burscough Junction station.The passenger service from Ormskirk to Burscough Junction and on to Southport, which used the southern curve, was withdrawn in 1962 as can be seen from the British Rail London Midland Region Timetable of that year.Pressure from local transport groups, West Lancashire Borough Council and former Southport MP John Pugh has not so far persuaded Network Rail to reinstate the curves.[12] Additionally, Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with the Ormskirk to Preston Line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.[13] In March 2020, the MPs for Southport, South Ribble, West Lancs and Preston (Damien Moore, Katherine Fletcher, Rosie Cooper and Sir Mark Hendrick) along with Lancashire County Council leader Geoff Driver united in a bid to pressure Network Rail and the Government to reinstate the curves.However, the Department for Transport made the decision to turn down the application despite the opening statement reading ‘The proposal makes a strong case for the intervention” for social and economic reasons and “a strong transport case with the area suffering from poor connectivity, congestion and air quality issues”[15] On Monday to Saturday daytimes, there are two trains an hour westbound to Southport and eastbound to Wigan.