Mid Cheshire backed
Working group to be established as rail campaigners take a major step forward in their quest to reopen the Mid Cheshire Rail Link.
RAIL campaigners in mid-Cheshire are celebrating, after gaining ministerial support for their bid to reopen a freight line to regular passenger services.
The 8½-mile single-track line between Sandbach and Northwich was closed to passengers in 1960, but has been retained as a strategic diversionary route for services between Crewe and Chester and to connect freight flows with the West Coast Main Line.
In response to lobbying from the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and local MP Esther McVey (Conservative, Tatton), Rail Minister Paul Maynard has now instructed the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to create a working group to examine proposals for reopening, including the construction of new stations at Middlewich and Gadbrook Park.
A business case published by the Mid Cheshire Rail Link Campaign in August 2017 estimated that reopening could cost as little as £5 million by upgrading existing infrastructure, representing a benefit:cost ratio of up to 5:1.
The campaign group received a further boost on November 30 when Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said he was “sympathetic” to the idea of restoring scheduled passenger services, and that he had asked Transport for the North (TfN) to consider its inclusion in TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan and long-term investment programme once it becomes a sub-national transport authority in April.
Responding to a question from MP Mike Amesbury (Labour, Weaver Vale) during a debate in the House of Commons, Grayling said: “As somebody who used to live very close to the Mid Cheshire rail link - indeed, I used to go walking alongside it - I am well aware of its potential.
“I have asked Transport for the North, which is taking a lead on making recommendations about new projects, to do work on this for me. But I would say to the Hon Gentleman that I am extremely sympathetic to the idea of trains running again on that railway line.”
Mid Cheshire Rail Link Campaign Chairman Stephen Dent paid tribute to local MPs Esther McVey, Fiona Bruce and Mike Amesbury for applying cross-party political pressure on both Grayling and Maynard to make the proposal a higher priority.
He told “We’ve had some difficulties in the last few years engaging with TfN, so having the Secretary of State asking them to work with the LEP is the best development possible. This is such a simple scheme to implement
once the money has been found as the line is still there, so we’re quite hopeful.
“After 26 years of talking about it [the Mid Cheshire Rail Link Campaign was originally formed in 1992], we seem to have succeeded in bringing it to national attention and getting it taken seriously. Our biggest thanks must therefore go to our three local MPs, because it’s through them that we have made this progress and come to the attention of the Secretary of State.
“My view is that we have done our job now in getting it passed over to the proper authorities. We will continue to work in partnership with them and keep local stakeholders informed of further developments.”