Commuters and travellers in Altrincham are being warned to brace for significant travel disruption later this month as a "once-in-a-generation" £7.9 million engineering project takes place.
The major overhaul by Network Rail at Manchester Piccadilly and Ardwick Junction will see the Mid Cheshire Line effectively cut short for nine days, running from Saturday 14th February to Sunday 22nd February.
During this period, Manchester Piccadilly will be closed to all trains arriving from the south and east, meaning the usual hourly service between Chester and Manchester via Altrincham will be unable to complete its journey.
Instead, trains on the Mid Cheshire Line will only run between Chester and Altrincham from Monday to Saturday, with the frequency reduced to every two hours for much of the day, though hourly services will remain in place during morning and evening peak times.
For those heading into Manchester city centre, passengers will need to transfer to the Metrolink at Altrincham or Navigation Road. Rail tickets will be valid for use on the trams to city centre stops throughout the duration of the works.
Travellers heading toward Stockport are being directed to the 370 and 371 Bee Network buses.
The disruption will be more acute on Sundays: on February 15th and 22nd, a two-hourly rail replacement bus service will replace all trains between Stockport and Chester, stopping at Altrincham, Knutsford and Northwich.
This same bus replacement will also affect Sunday morning travel on March 1st and March 22nd until 1pm.
There is a single exception for those needing a direct rail connection to Stockport during the week. A lone service will run once a day in each direction: the 06.30 from Chester to Stockport and the 17.08 return from Stockport to Chester, both of which will call at Altrincham.
Network Rail and train operators are urging the public to plan ahead and allow significantly more time for their journeys, as the closure coincides with the February half-term.
The work involves replacing 11 sets of points and nearly a kilometre of track, an upgrade designed to improve long-term reliability on a section of the line that has seen little modernisation since the 1980s.
