Mid-Cheshire line
| Mid-Cheshire line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Overview | |||
| System | National Rail | ||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Locale |
Greater Manchester Cheshire North West England |
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| Termini |
Chester Manchester Piccadilly |
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| Operation | |||
| Owner | Network Rail | ||
| Operator(s) | Northern Rail | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
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The Mid-Cheshire line is a railway line in the northwest of England, between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly via Knutsford. Since privatisation, passenger journeys on this line have massively increased to over 1.7 million per year. The section of line between Mickle Trafford Junction, near Chester, and Edgeley Junction, , is the present day core of the Mid-Cheshire line. The ends of the line, between Chester and Mickle Trafford, and between Stockport and Manchester, are shared with other routes. The route taken by passenger trains has changed over the years and now differs considerably from the original. The new Northern Rail franchise will see a near doubling of the passenger service from December 2017.
The Mid-Cheshire line has its origins in railways promoted by three separate railway companies in the 19th century. The Cheshire Midland Railway was opened to passengers between Altrincham and Knutsford on 12 May 1862, then completed to Northwich on 1 January 1863. The West Cheshire Railway opened from Northwich to West Cheshire Junction in 1869. This railway was extended from Mouldsworth to a new terminus at Chester Northgate in 1874. The line from Altrincham to Manchester was the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJAR), opened on 20 July 1849 and jointly owned by the London and North Western Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR, later the Great Central Railway). The line from Chester to Altrincham was vested in the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), a joint committee regulated by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), MSLR and the Midland Railway (MR). This committee became an independent company after 1867 and survived the 1923 Grouping intact. Services were operated by the CLC until nationalisation on 1 January 1948, when the line became part of British Railways London Midland Region. Between 1880 and 1969, CLC trains from Chester via Altrincham terminated at Manchester Central railway station.
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