A BUSINESS case to help reopen Middlewich’s passenger rail line and bring trains to Gadbrook Park is currently being drawn up.

Consultants have been working with 871 Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnership (LEP) and both Cheshire East and West councils to pave the way for passenger trains to return to the Sandbach to Northwich branch line.

And it comes as the Government is offering £20 million to open new rail stations across the country, as part of a wider £500 million package to reopen disused passenger lines.

A spokesman for the LEP said: “Our consultants are still working on a strategic business case and hope to engage with Government soon to discuss how we can take this forward.

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“We hope to have a further update in approximately three weeks.”

Ten new stations across the country have already been opened thanks to £40 million of funding from the Department for Transport – including Warrington West, which opened last December.

Land for a new train station in Middlewich has already been earmarked by Cheshire East Council as part of its vision for the wider Brooks Lane area – while another station serving Gadbrook Park, in Northwich, is also being considered.

Chris Heaton-Harris, rail minister, said: “Disused railway stations have been emblematic of left behind towns for too long.

Northwich Guardian:

From left: Andy Carter, Warrington South MP, and rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris

“The vast number of passengers already using new stations funded by Government is proof of the importance of investing in new connections.

“This new funding will both restore local stations to their former glory, and build even more new ones, establishing vital links for communities and levelling up the country for everyone.”

Stephen Dent, chairman of the Mid Cheshire Rail Link Campaign, told the Middlewich Guardian last month that Middlewich ‘must be near the front of the line’ for Government cash to bring passenger trains back to the town.

A report from consultancy firm WSP, published last August, said that new stations at Middlewich and Gadbrook Park could eventually serve 140,000 passengers a year each – with direct trains running to Crewe, Manchester and Birmingham.

But those findings were welcomed with caution by Cllr Jonathan Parry, Labour CEC member for Middlewich, who feared the report could simply be ‘lip service’.

He said last August: “It is something that needs to happen in Middlewich. The town is growing more and more and we need to see a massive improvement in our public transport.

Northwich Guardian:

“But we have to look at this realistically – I don’t think a train station is coming any time soon.

“It’s like the bypass. Until we see a station there, and until we see a working bypass, the campaigns will carry on.”