The Mid Cheshire Rail Users' Association is campaigning for the reopening of the line to passenger traffic and the construction of a new station at Middlewich.

Some trains reversed at Northwich, then continued to Hartford and Greenbank and then along a short stretch of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) to Acton Bridge.

In 1885, the LNWR initiated a through carriage on weekdays from Manchester Oxford Road to Middlewich, via Northwich, and on to London Euston.

By August 1946, the local passenger service had been reduced to six trains each way between Crewe, Middlewich and Northwich, each offering only third class accommodation.

As the branch was 9 mi (14 km) in length, with just one main station at Middlewich, the LNWR decided to construct two railway halts to improve facilities for passengers in the locality.

The station became victim of the pre-Beeching Axe closure programme, with regular passenger trains ceasing to use the branch on 4 January 1960.

When this happens, or during engineering work, the line is closed and some Avanti West Coast services between London, Chester and Holyhead are diverted through Middlewich instead.

The Mid Cheshire Rail Users' Association is presently campaigning for the reintroduction of passenger services on the Sandbach - Northwich line, with the construction of a new station at Middlewich; though not necessarily in the same location as the original.

[11] The campaign received a boost in July 2018 when it was announced that the government had requested a strategic outline business plan into the reopening of the line to passenger traffic.