Watching the news tonight, it seems the rail journey proposed from Dec 2013 for Blackpool>Euston will be a diesel train with a total journey time of 3 1/2 hrs. It'll be once daily too, meaning fares are bound to be high. Then in 2016 it is *proposed* to move to 5xdaily electric service. But I suggest 2016 is when FirstGroup will give up the contract. (mild speculation, of course).