Angry residents feel 'cut off' by cancelled trains

Bramhall Station has not seen a train leave on a Sunday since September, a local resident says

Angry residents say their village has been “cut off” from the rest of Greater Manchester due to constant train cancellations on weekends.

Bramhall station has connections to both Stockport town centre and Manchester, but locals said the Northern Rail services were unreliable and had stopped running on Sundays altogether.

Resident Ioannis Verdelis told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the last time a train left Bramhall on a Sunday was in September.

Cheadle MP, Tom Morrison, described the situation in the village as a “disgrace” and called for immediate improvement.

Mr Verdelis said: “I got very frustrated this weekend, I wanted to go to Stockport with my mum and the kids, but trains weren’t running. For people who don’t drive there is a feeling of being cut off."

Manchester resident, Julia Danielska, has started taking a longer commute to work via a rain to Cheadle and then a bus to Bramhall, because she said it was more reliable, despite the fact a Northern train journey to Bramhall "on paper should take 17 minutes".

Northern apologised and said it was addressing the issues causing cancellations and delays.

Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “We are sorry for our recent performance, accept it has not been good enough and understand the impact this has on our customers."

A petition has been started by the locals, calling for Sunday services to resume.