ELR themselves amalgamated, the LYR retaining its identity, and so the Blackburn Railway became wholly absorbed by the LYR. From this time, the trains along the former Blackburn Railway lines used the former ELR station at Blackburn. The NWR was absorbed by the Midland Railway (MR) in 1871, and once the MR began work on its Settle and Carlisle Railway, the LYR decided to resume work on the line north of Chatburn. This was authorised on 24 July 1871, and the were estimated to cost £220,000. Construction north of Chatburn was resumed by the LYR in 1873, and was opened as far as Gisburn on 2 June 1879 although it was complete as far as ; the last section, between Gisburn and Hellifield, opened on 1 June 1880. Later history The line between Blackburn and Hellifield was closed to passengers on 10 September 1962 but continued to be used for diversions and for freight, and until 15 August 1964 there was a Saturdays-only train from Manchester to Glasgow which used this route. The line between Blackburn and Bolton remained open, but was reduced to single track operation in two stages as part of major resignalling projects on the East Lancashire line (1973) and Bolton area (1985). The line between Blackburn and Hellifield was slated for complete closure in 1983 along with the closure of the Settle and Carlisle line, however, this proposal was dropped in 1989. After a public campaign, the line between Blackburn and Clitheroe was reopened to regular passenger services in 1994, and a Sunday only service was later reintroduced between Clitheroe and Hellifield. The towns and villages on the route are the following: Manchester Bolton Hall i' th' Wood Bromley Cross Entwistle Darwen Blackburn Ramsgreave and Wilpshire Langho Whalley Clitheroe Passenger services from Clitheroe to Rochdale via Blackburn and Manchester Victoria are operated by Northern Trains. On summer Sundays, Northern Trains also operates the DalesRail service, which starts at Blackpool and continues beyond Clitheroe to the Settle–Carlisle line, where it calls at all the stations en route to Carlisle. This service was extended, from mid-September, 2013, to cover Sundays throughout the remainder of the year, with trains running as far as Hellifield. The service from Manchester to Clitheroe was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail service in March 2007. It was announced in March 2007 that major improvements to the line were being