They are building platform 4 at MAN so services can be expanded but Chester is a problem as going via Piccadilly is going in the wrong direction
first
MAN suffers from a local version of the"everyone wants to go to London" syndrome. With the exception o a few bus routes, all public transport hesds for central Manchester.
Access to Chester and North Wasles (and even Liverpool) could be vastly improved by taking the reail link out to the west, joining the existing Stockport to Chester line somewhere around Altrincham of Hale. To the east, a direct link to Stockport is needed. One possibility would be a chord from the Stockport-Chester line onto the Styal line. Another would be a link from the WCML south of Cheadle Hulme, running alongside the extension of the A555 into the airport that is currently predicted to be built "soon". Combined with reinvigoration of the Stockport to Stalybridge line, either of these schemes could improve acess from Oldham, Tameside and Yorkshire.