The franchise was let on the basis the Chester would be the semi-fast but after some pressure from MCRUA I think the current plan is for the Greenbank to be the semi-fasts. Personally, I'm of the opinion Greenbank being the semi-fast might do more harm than good. At Northwich, Knutsford and Altrincham people are going to travel at the most convenient time, they aren't going to travel half an hour earlier because the train will be 5 minutes quicker getting to Manchester. Consequently, I think we could end up with Greenbank semi-fasts sailing through the village stations half empty and those boarding at village stations having to stand on the Chester services.
Apart from on Saturdays there is very little demand for Chester from Navigation Road, Ashley, Mobberley, Plumley and Lostock Gralam so I think the best solution would be Chester semi-fasts Mon-Fri and running 2tph to Chester on Saturday (when there's a lot more passengers travelling to Chester anyway) then on Saturdays it doesn't matter which is the semi-fast.