Still no extras to Chester and Sunday hourly then? What's it been, 3 years now?
I thought that the Mid Cheshire line enhancements had been canned indefinitely because of infrastructure issues? No paths between Piccadilly and Stockport for the weekday Greenbank service. Hourly Sunday service dependent on User Worked Crossing risk assessments, for which Network Rail has no funding.
It's just over two years since the services were required to start according to the franchise minimum service specification (December 2017).
The situation is different regarding the weekday and Sunday services.
The weekday service is stalled between Altrincham and Piccadilly owing to lack of paths at Edgeley Junction and at Piccadilly, according to Network Rail. Northern proposed an alternative Altrincham to Chester semi-fast service which was stalled by Network Rail owing to the user-worked crossing issue. Funding has been found and those crossings should be fixed before the end of this year. Chester station capacity has not been raised as an objection by Network Rail. Therefore, the Altrincham to Chester second hourly train is still a possibility in the near term (perhaps December 2020).
The Sunday service is stalled owing to Northern's shortage of drivers willing to work Sundays. Network Rail have not objected to the extra Sunday trains. Therefore there is hope for those too, if the Sunday working agreement holds.
So I do not agree that the enhancements are canned indefinitely although the second hourly service to Stockport and Manchester - which was the most sought-after enhancement - seems to be as far away as ever.