[3] Blackpool Central railway station opened in 1863, with a line connecting Lytham to Kirkham in 1874, enabling through-trains from Preston.

In 2021, a proposal was made to introduce a new passing loop on the South Fylde Line to double the current hourly service frequency and test affordable electrification methods.

First TransPennine Express formerly ran hourly services to Manchester Airport using Class 185 diesel multiple units, but responsibility for these passed to the new Northern franchise as from the beginning of April 2016.

[7] Known as the South Fylde Line, this branch serves Lytham, St Annes and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, each with their own station.

In 2021, Fylde Council submitted a report to the Department for Transport, proposing a new passing loop which could double the frequency of the current hourly service.

With the exception of two small sections, the line is still in place from Poulton-le-Fylde to Jameson Road, Fleetwood, where the trackbed was used to build the A585 Amounderness Way.

Proposals exist to reopen the line, and volunteers of the Poulton & Wyre Railway Society have begun to clear the vegetation with which it was previously overgrown.