[tkboomer2]

Why are there very rarely plans to increase or reopen railway lines with passenger numbers increasing all the time?

Macclefield (Cheshire) and Buxton (Derbyshire) are connected by a dangerous section of road which has to close more often than others due to an accident, bad weather or a combination of the two. There is a bus service between the two towns, but obviously if the road is closed the bus can't get through. To go between the two by train you have to go a long way round via Stockport and Buxton to Stockport trains get very busy normally when the road is open, so that is one route that I personally think should be introduced.

One line closed by Dr. Beeching (Sandbach, Cheshire to Northwich, Cheshire) carries one goods train a week. Yet the line goes through an average size town without a station (Middlewich) and goes right by Gadbrook Business Park in Rudheath near Northwich. The line would also allow a more direct service from Altrincham to Crewe, making the train more attractive option both in terms of cost and time.) The line must be in good enough condition for passenger trains as Holyhead to London trains have been diverted along it when the direct Crewe to Chester line was closed for engineering works.

There's also issues with parliamentary trains such as Stockport to Stalybridge and Chester to Runcorn, which would probably both get a fair number of passengers if they had regular services. Regarding the Chester to Runcorn one that journey takes 26 minutes, while Runcorn to Liverpool takes 23 minutes and Chester to Liverpool takes 45 minutes. So there probably could be a Chester to Liverpool via Runcorn service which would only take marginally longer than the Merseyrail service, hence providing much needed extra capacity between Chester and Liverpool at peak times.

A final point regarding the rail network is why are certain routes electrified and others aren't. For example, before the Metrolink in Manchester the local train service between Altrincham and Manchester was run by electric trains, but trains from Chester were diesel due to no overhead wires south of Altrincham. The track between Altrincham and Chester was prepared for electrification, however, British Rail decided it would cost too much and withdrew plans for it. Had it gone through it could easily have affected where the Metrolink goes south of G-Mex as diesel trains would had to be brought in to replace electric one, which would have been very uncommon. With longer distant routes it seems that many routes going in and out of London were electrified but routes used by other long distant trains weren't.