As Congleton train travellers know, we are badly served on Sundays, with only three trains (Northern stoppers) each way and these not until the afternoon. So the only public transport serving Congleton on Sunday mornings is the bus (the 38 Crewe-Congleton-Macclesfield operated by D&G Buses) . Otherwise you need feet, bicycle, motorbike, car, or a taxi.
Frustratingly, Virgin and Cross Country trains whizz up and down the line all day, but even when these services did stop here regularly, it was never on Sundays, for some mysterious reason.
Northern refuse to improve the situation – stating their problem being reliable staffing, as Sunday working is voluntary. So I’ve just asked Cross Country if they could consider stopping in Congleton on Sundays. They replied that the request would be passed on to the timetable planners. Unfortunately, it’s the government and not the train operators that dictate timetables, and ‘timetable planners’ seem to be anonymous office workers, so it’s difficult to pinpoint who to pressurise. East Cheshire Line Rail Users’ Group (ECLRUG) is good at doing this, but it takes a long time to change things (10 years, in fact, to reinstate our hourly service on weekdays).
Northern always talks about no demand. But have you ever been asked what train service you’d like? No. And have you ever asked the train operators or the government for more trains?
If you want to help put on the pressure for a proper train service on Sundays, you could join ECLRUG and also email or write to Cross Country (find their email address here). If we don’t ask, we’ll never get. If we do ask, and keep asking, we just might get. One day. Preferably Sunday(s).
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