KNUTSFORD’S commuters won’t see extra carriages on the Mid Cheshire line until 2016 at the earliest.

The Government announced last week it is investing £8billion into the nation’s rail infrastructure, and will be buying around 2,000 new carriages to tackle overcrowding, as well as electrifying some lines.

It hopes to deliver the carriages by May 2019, which would create space for an extra 185,000 passengers.

The Mid Cheshire line has suffered with overcrowding in the past, particularly on the rush hour trains in the morning and afternoon, but demand has dropped since the timetable changes in late 2008.

Ian Bevan, managing director of Northern Rail, which operates trains on the route, said he welcomed the prospect of additional carriages on the line.

He said: “We look forward to early discussions with the Department for Transport on the number of additional carriages that will come to Northern.

“We have attracted 36 per cent more passengers since the start of our franchise in 2004, and there are now 86 million journeys made on Northern services every year.

“Northern will continue to work with the Government to find cost-effective ways to tackle overcrowding on our busiest routes into the major cities and towns of the north of England.”

John Oates, from the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association, said the line would not see any developments for around three to five years.

“They are electrifying a number of lines and the trains on those lines will be moved around the place, but this probably won’t be done and finished until 2016,” he said.

“This will not quite happen tomorrow but quite a long time in the future, but at least something is happening.

“We have only got a couple of trains on our line which are full, whereas in some part of Leeds and north Manchester people can’t get on one or the next one or the one after that.

“We used to be worse, but when they reduced the trains in December 2008, we lost quite a few Manchester commuters, and they now sit in the jams on the A556.”

What do you think about the Government’s plans for the railways? Let us know on our website at knutsfordguardian.co.uk.