KNUTSFORD TOWN COUNCIL ENDORSES MIDDLEWICH RAIL LINK PLAN

Knutsford Town Council

KNUTSFORD TOWN COUNCIL ENDORSES MIDDLEWICH RAIL LINK PLAN

At a recent meeting of the Knutsford Town Council a discussion was held on the council's input into the Draft Development Strategy for the town.

Cllr Andrew Malloy asked that a reference should be included in the council's recommendations to the need for the re-opening of the Middlewich Branch line to passengers as a way of providing direct rail services between Knutsford and Crewe and removing the need for Knutsford passengers (and travellers from other stations east of Northwich) to travel via Chester or Manchester to reach this important railway centre.
This was agreed by the council

Cllr Malloy is a keen supporter of the Middlewich scheme and recognises the advantages this revived route to Crewe will bring, not only to Middlewich but also to people living across a wide area of North and Mid-Cheshire and the North-west in general. 
In 2012 he urged readers of the Knutsford Guardian to add their signatures to Fiona Bruce's parliamentary petition calling for restoration of passenger services over the Middlewich line. A link to the story is below.

COUNCILLOR URGES READERS TO SIGN PETITION

READERS URGED TO SIGN RAIL PETITION - KNUTSFORD GUARDIAN REPORT

The Knutsford Guardian recently carried a report explaining why Knutsford Town Councillor Andrew Malloy was urging residents of Knutsford to sign MRLC's petition calling for the re-opening of a station in Middlewich, and the introduction of a passenger service on the Sandbach-Middlewich-Northwich line:

'A KNUTSFORD councillor is backing a neighbouring town’s campaign to reopen a railway line that has been closed to passengers for more than half a century.

Clr Andrew Malloy believes the plans to upgrade the Northwich to Sandbach line would improve rail services in Knutsford.

The Thorneyholme Drive resident is encouraging Guardian readers to sign a petition which will be presented to Parliament by Fiona Bruce MP in the autumn....'

(excerpt reproduced with permission)

To read the rest of the report, please follow this link:

READERS URGED TO SIGN RAIL PETITION.

Councillor Malloy has, of course, correctly identified another advantage of re-opening the Middlewich line to passenger trains - the opportunity for passengers living in Knutsford and other stations on the Mid-Cheshire line East of Northwich to travel direct to Crewe (and thus to destinations all over the country) without first having to journey into Stockport or Manchester and change trains (their only other even vaguely realistic current option being a lengthy journey to Chester and a change of train there for Crewe).

This photograph was taken at the July meeting of the MRLC committee and shows:

(left to right) Fiona Bruce MP, Harry Boardman, Stephen Dent, Wayne Jones, Cllr Mike Parsons and

Cllr Peter Hirst with the petition which will help Fiona raise the matter of the Middlewich line in Parliament.

SEE ALSO: KNUTSFORD TOWN COUNCIL ENDORSES RAIL LINK PLAN