In December, Arriva trains were awarded the franchise of the Northern Rail Network which will start in April.

In winning the contract Arriva pledged to deliver value for money for passengers and start an ambitious programme of more than £1 billion worth of investment to transform train travel in the North – including investment in ticketing and trains with increased capacity.

This will be welcome news to the many people who use the train as part of their daily commute and have recently been faced with ‘failure to pay’ notices, particularly in Gatley. These fines have been a result of the inability to buy ickets on the Station when the ticket office is is closed.

That is why I was keen to take the opportunity to meet with Mark Barker, Stakeholder Manager at Arriva Trains North, to discuss their plans for ticketing at Gatley station and also timetabling at train stations across Cheadle constituency.

I am pleased to be able to report that, in the early period of the franchise, stations across Cheadle will benefit from high tech ticket machines on platforms and advance purchase apps. Going forward capacity will also be increased with more off peak services from Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall to Macclesfield and brand new four carriage trains being brought into service on Cheadle routes by December 2019.

This is an exciting time for travel locally and I look forward to Cheadle commuters benefiting from this investment in the months and years to come.