A NEW direct service to London Euston will run from mid Cheshire when new rail timetables are introduced in May.

The London Northwestern Railway (LNWR) route from Liverpool Lime Street to Birmingham New Street – via Acton Bridge, Hartford and Winsford – will be extended onto London Euston from May 19.

The direct journey will take around three-and-a-half hours from mid Cheshire, compared to around two hours for Northwich and Winsford commuters who change at Stockport or Crewe for Virgin Trains services to London.

Richard Brooks, customer experience director for London Northwestern Railway, said: “The timetable improvements being introduced in May will bring a range of benefits to passengers, with more direct services to destinations across our network and improved capacity on some of our busiest services.

“However, this isn’t the whole story. We will also have a further timetable change in two years’ time, where passengers will see further benefits from the introduction of new trains onto the network, which when fully operational, will increase capacity by 25 per cent.”

Meanwhile, as previously reported by the Guardian, improvements on the Mid Cheshire Line run by Northern have been pushed back again and will not be introduced next month.

These include an extra train per hour between Manchester and Chester via Greenbank, Northwich and Lostock Gralam, and hourly services on Sunday.