The Altrincham Railway Line

This is the first of many blogs about particular transport articles - this one is referring to the line between Stockport and Altrincham. I'll hopefully try and do all my blogs in a similar, easily-readable style:

HISTORY:
Services between Altrincham and Manchester traditionally used the line via Stretford and Deansgate to get to the City - however, in the early 1990's the line was converted for use to Metrolink (see "Manchester Underground" blog). So that services could carry on, they were diverted onto an old section of line passing through Timperley, Baguley, Northenden and Cheadle to Stockport and on to Piccadilly.

This line actually used to have some railway stations along it, at Baguley, Northenden and Cheadle.

The line currently has an hourly service from Manchester - Chester, with additional services at peak times.

LOCATION:
The line passes through several highly-populated areas that are currently unserved by the railways - these include Timperley Village, Baguley, Northern Moor (Wythenshawe Hospital), Sharston, Cheadle, and Cheadle Heath.

WHAT COULD BE DONE?
Several new stations could be opened up along the route, and possibly a new half-hourly service introduced between Manchester (Victoria via the Denton Line if the capacity is not available at Piccadilly) and Knutsford. These stations would include (going from the direction of Stockport):

• Cheadle Heath - this station could be located close to where Bird Hall Lane passes underneath the railway line. There appears to be a large brownfield site next to it which could easily be turned into a decent forecourt/car park. It could also help with Stockport's urban regeneration and relieve car traffic on Stockport Road and Edgeley Road
• Cheadle - possibly to be named Cheadle Town to avoid confusion with the proposed station at Cheadle Heath, and the current one at Cheadle Hulme. This station would be sited at the same location as the old one, by Manchester Road. This would help remove enormous amounts of congestion from Cheadle High Street, although improvements to Manchester Road and its junction with High Street would be necessary
• Sharston - this would be sited at the same location as the old one, at Longley Lane, although it could be relocated to Sharston Road to more centrally serve the business parks and Sharston itself. This would be an ideal station as it is located in an area of booming new housing and a regeneration of a vast council-housing area. This could also be a location for a Park & Ride (if built at Sharston Road) due to its ease of access to the M56 and M60
• Baguley - this station could take on a number of names, including Roundthorn, Northern Moor or Wythenshawe Hospital. It would not be located at its previous site (off Shady Lane), but would instead be sited at Southmoor Road, so that connections to the local bus network (for Wythenshawe Hospital and Civic Centre) could be made. This could also be a possible Metrolink interchange, although this idea has now seemingly been put on hold because of the funding problems
• Timperley Central - this station would be located off Stockport Road, and would much better serve the village of Timperley than the current Timperley Metrolink station would, as well as the nearby Broomwood Estate. However, Stockport Road might need an upgrade to handle the road traffic coming to the station.

If railway traffic were to be increased along this line, it may mean that there could be congestion on the line passing through Navigation Road - this could be solved by track-sharing between Metrolink and Network Rail (I think a similar system operates in Tyneside with the Metro). Also, Altrincham Interchange would require a vast upgrade to improve the dated facilities (I think some of this work has already started but maybe just purely superficial).