None of these responses ever seem able to justify why they should be able to have the service they want, but everyone else can get lost. Which is about the sum of it.
Indeed. I'm aware of arguments backed up with facts and figures for why Mid-Cheshire services only going as far as Altrincham or Stockport do not have the same benefits as ones going into Manchester. For example, Metrolink not running to a proper timetable and terminating late running services at Timperley makes connections difficult when travelling in the Northwich direction, as well as journeys with a change being very slow in comparison to the distance travelled. However, for Southport it might be quicker to catch an express train from Manchester to Wigan and then get a local train to Southport opposed to travelling all the way on a direct stopping service.
I'm not a rail planning expert but I know that the original plan was Wigan to Bolton would be electrified and there weren't originally any plans to convert old electric trains to be bi-mode trains. Those changes make it hard to justify trains from Southport not being able to run via Bolton into Piccadilly solely because trains from Southport will be running on diesel.
(e.g. if there's a delay on the Chester - Leeds service then you can drop everything back half an hour to resume the normal timetable)
The other side of that argument is until the services recover a problem at Rochdale could cause all Chester services to be disrupted, rather than half.
You've then also got the problem that the scarce Castlefield/ Airport paths would more likely be given to who shouts loudest (which includes who has the more organised letter writing campaign/ who has a local MP with good connections in Government)
The thing I don't get is if Oxford Road station being convenient for the universities in Manchester is a benefit for stations in Merseyside, then won't that be a benefit for the South Yorkshire stations which could see a Manchester Airport service diverted to Liverpool instead?
This is what's got us into this mess - trying to give everywhere as many hourly links as possible (instead of giving places a well balanced service to Manchester, where there are good connections to well balanced services on other lines)
Wasn't one of the benefits of the revised TransPennine service pattern supposed to be half-hourly Liverpool to York and half-hourly Manchester Airport to York, leaving the Hull service being a slower service to Piccadilly only?