Residents of a village in Greater Manchester say they've been effectively "cut off" due to persistent train cancellations by Northern Rail, particularly at weekends. Bramhall station provides links to both Stockport town centre and Manchester, but operator Northern has faced criticism from the local community for its unreliable services, which have ceased operating on Sundays entirely.
Ioannis Verdelis, a resident of the village, has even initiated a petition after observing that no trains have departed from Bramhall on a Sunday since September. He has gathered more than 100 signatures so far. "I don't know if there was any specific decision to cut our village from the rest of the world on weekends, no one (was) consulted on not having a train on Sunday, it just doesn't run," stated Mr Verdelis.
He added, "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.
"We have two cars in our household because [the train] is just not a reliable way of getting around."
"People would love to go to Stockport to enjoy what's happening there, if the train timetable was running on a Sunday there would be four or five a day, but they haven't run since September. We literally can't go there, it's a real shame."
Other villagers have echoed these sentiments, reports .
Julia Danielska, a Manchester resident who works in the village, has resorted to a longer commute involving a train to Cheadle followed by a bus to Bramhall, citing greater reliability. "Half the time trains are delayed or cancelled, it's difficult getting out of Bramhall at times," she explained.
"I commute from Manchester and on paper [the journey] should take 17 minutes but I have to get a train to Cheadle and then catch a bus, I take a detour to get to work at a reasonable time."
She mentioned that cancellations are frequent on weekends, often attributed to staff issues or unspecified reasons.
Bramhall local Lynn Schofield, aged 67, commented, "I don't find it a problem but I know a lot of people do. It seems to be hell on Sundays so as we're getting to Christmas that's not great.
"There should be more services, the trains come every hour during the week, but that's a long time to wait if you miss one. This is a busy station, so I think they could do with a train every half an hour."
Cheadle MP Tom Morrison demanded swift action. He said: "The ongoing suspension of Sunday services on the Manchester to Stoke line is a disgrace. For weeks, residents across Cheadle constituency have been left without a vital transport link.
He said he had contacted both Northern Rail and the Secretary of State for Transport seeking immediate answers and a solution.
"Public transport in Cheadle constituency and across the North West has been underperforming for too long," he said.
"Northern Rail's failure to deliver reliable services has had a significant, negative impact on local residents, and it must be addressed without delay."
Northern has issued an apology and assured that it is actively working to resolve the problems causing cancellations and delays. Matt Rice, chief operating officer at Northern, stated: "We are sorry for our recent performance, accept it has not been good enough and understand the impact this has on our customers.
"We are working hard to address issues with train crew availability so we can improve reliability for our customers. We recently secured a new rest-day working agreement for our train drivers and have offered conductors a new deal to work on Sundays."
"Following constructive talks, the RMT's National Executive Committee will review our four-month offer before putting it to their members for a referendum vote.
"We realise there is more to be done to address issues with performance and are now focused on delivering our improvement plan."
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