Lancashire is a large and diverse county. With an area of 3,045 square km and a population of just under 1.5 million, the county ranges from big towns and cities to open country and seaside. It boasts a railway network that includes sections of the West Coast main line and secondary lines serving Colne, Ormskirk and Blackpool. Not surprisingly, the network has strong links to the two major cities that sit on Lancashire's borders, namely Manchester and Liverpool -both important destinations for commuters and shoppers. Lancashire was one of the early pioneers of the community rail concept, developing what became the West of Lancashire CRP covering the two lines in West Lancashire, Preston - Ormskirk and (Manchester -) Wigan - Southport, in the late 1990s. Support for the West of Lancashire CRP was provided from one of the team of Rural Transport Partnership Officers employed by Lancashire County Council.
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