A train operator who suspended rail services in the town has claimed the route has performed "significantly better" with Alsager removed compared to this time last year.

However, North Staffs Community Rail Partnership, has urged local passengers to voice how they have been affected by the service cuts in their continued quest to pressure East Midlands Railway (EMR) into reinstating services.

EMR decided to suspend almost all its services for passengers at Alsager from 7th September.

Only the first and last train of the day in each direction on the Crewe – Derby service will stop at Alsager until the backend of December.

At last month's Alsager Town Council meeting, Cllr Michael Unett's motion to lobby East Midlands Trains to reverse their decision to remove hourly trains stopping at Alsager from Monday to Saturday was unanimously supported.

Cllr Unett stated that East Midlands Railway had taken this decision to "save time" by missing out Alsager on their routes.

East Midlands Railway has hit back and claimed that it is not about "saving time", but rather about protecting performance which had been "historically poor" on this line.

An East Midlands Railway spokesperson told Nub News: "On Monday 7th September, we re-introduced 70 train services right across the country to provide nearly 97% of our normal, or pre-Covid, timetable.

"This did include changes to our services calling at Alsager. However, the hourly West Midlands Trains service to Crewe and Birmingham New Street continues unchanged and provides sufficient capacity for the vast majority of journeys.

"Our analysis before the decision was made showed EMR services were often delayed by the level crossing next to Alsager and, in turn, were subsequently late when they departed Crewe for their return journey too.

"Removing the calls helps to ensure that trains are on time at Crewe and Stoke more often which will both improve the punctuality of these trains and reduce the knock-on impacts on the performance of other services in the area.

"In the subsequent weeks we have continued to monitor services and our performance on the route has remained significantly better than this time last year. However, we continue to keep a close eye on these services going forward."

As well as working with Cheshire East Council on the matter, Cllr Rod Fletcher, chair of Alsager Town Council, has been working alongside Stoke-on-Trent council and the North Staffs Community Rail Partnership.

North Staffs Community Rail Partnership strongly oppose this service suspension, but EMR have agreed to share with them their punctuality data every four weeks, to monitor if it has made any difference with Crewe arrivals.

The community rail partnership has also called on residents to send in their comments and stories on how the reduction in services has affected Alsager passengers.

You can send your comments to [email protected]

At the time of publication, a public petition, which has been lodged asking for the hourly EMR services at Alsager Train Station to be restored had 1,354 signatures.