Knutsford rail services to be reinstated but more are needed

The town council is calling for all the trains taken off during the pandemic to be reinstated and better links established.

Northern has pledged to ‘prioritise routes with the highest customer demand’, including Knutsford, when timetables change in December.

But commuters and children who have to get up extra early to get to work and school say this is not good enough.

The mayor of Knutsford Cllr Mike Houghton

Knutsford mayor Cllr Mike Houghton said: “As a council, our intention is to get a half hour service introduced throughout the day and an hourly service on Sunday.

“That is our objective.”

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Knutsford mum Amy Hayes launched a campaign to get the 8.04am service reinstated.

Her 11-year-old daughter Alice and friends have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to get to Loreto Grammar School on time.

Loreto schoolgirls Nancy Alecock, Juliette Nightingale, Alice Holt and Georgie Mansell on their first day travelling from Knutsford to Altrincham

Amy said: “It is unacceptable that the only train from Knutsford to Altrincham that she can get is at 7.33am.

“She arrives at 7.50am and is at school by 8am. We are left with children who are exhausted by the end of the school week because they have had to get up so early.

Amy, who has formed a sub committee to campaign for a better service on this line, welcomes the return of the service.

“I’m relieved that it’s finally coming back after more than two and a half years without,” she said.

“It’s been a hard year. The girls have had a lot to get used to with their new school and routine and we have been relying on lift shares between us in the morning to relieve the pressure on the girls.

“I just hope that Northern remain true to their word and the long awaited reinstatement actually happens.”

Simon Barber, spokesman for Mid Cheshire Rail Users Association, said: “Since the start of Covid travel restrictions, the railways have been running fewer trains as instructed by the Government.

“On the Mid Cheshire line this has meant the loss of five weekday rush hour extra trains which used to increase the service to two per hour during the peaks.

“This has caused inconvenience and disruption, especially for travellers who have to endure a 72-minute gap in the morning service.

“We have seen the proposed new timetable starting in December which reinstates four of the five missing trains and we are in discussions with Northern about the timing of these trains.”

The group is continuing to press for the reinstatement of the missing 8.04am from Knutsford to Manchester.

Simon added: “We also continue to argue for the start of the half hourly all day service which was a commitment from December 2017 but was never delivered.”

Chris Jackson, regional director for Northern, said: “We’ve made decisions about our timetables, including Knutsford, based on the levels of resource we have available.

“We’ve than prioritised the routes with the highest customer demand, and which support the region’s economic growth.”

Many commuters travel from Knutsford to Manchester and Chester.

The mayor said he understands that the Mid Cheshire line is ‘quite idiosynchratic’.

“It has various features including specialist signalling which needs specially trained staff to operate its nuances,” said Cllr Houghton.

“We are sympathetic to Northern in their predicament in terms of training staff,” said Cllr Houghton.

“But for the infrastructure of the town, we need a rail service that is fit for purpose.

“This new timetable is a step in the right direction but we intend to lobby for a half hourly service throughout the day and hourly on Sunday.”