More Cross Country trains to serve Chesterfield station after campaign
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CrossCountry Trains will add more services to its timetables which call at Chesterfield station from next month after a campaign by the area’s political leaders.
Passengers faced a reduction in trains stopping at Chesterfield in 2020, which the company blamed on the pandemic.
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Hide AdCrossCountry Trains, which operates services between the south west and north east, withdrew the Chesterfield stop on many of its services – meaning passengers travelling to places such as Birmingham and Newcastle needed to change trains in Derby or Sheffield.
North East Derbyshire MP Lee Rowley says he has held regular meetings with the management of CrossCountry to press the case for further services to be returned.
This has seen additional trains put on over the course of the last year and led to the announcement of these additional 30 stops per week.
“I’m very pleased that CrossCountry have again chosen to return services to Chesterfield station,” Mr Rowley said.
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Hide Ad“Getting better infrastructure and services in place is a key priority for me as North East Derbyshire’s local MP and it is one of the reasons why I have been pushing this for the last year. I am glad that CrossCountry are taking another step forward in restoring services in a few weeks’ time.
“We are continuing to make good progress locally in terms of infrastructure and services.
"In the last year alone, we have seen £25 million to regenerate Clay Cross, £25 million to regenerate Staveley, funds for a new school on The Avenue, the breaking of ground on the new Urgent Care Village at the Royal Hospital and now the further restoration of local train services.”
CrossCountry Trains will restore a further six weekday services from December 12.
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Hide AdAdditional stops will be made weekdays at 1.03pm, 3.03pm and 9.06pm (northbound) and 1.08pm, 8.08pm and 10.25pm (southbound).
CrossCountry faced criticism last summer after initially scrapping all stops at the town’s railway station – before a partial U-turn saw peak-time services resume.
Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins and leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, Councillor Tricia Gilby, also wrote to the minister of state for rail about CrossCountry’s decision not to fully restore its pre-pandemic service as part of lobbying efforts.