The Mid Cheshire Line is a railway line in the northwest of England, between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly via Knutsford. Since privatisation, passenger journeys on this line have massively increased to over 1.7 million per year. The section of line between Mickle Trafford Junction, near Chester, and Edgeley Junction, Stockport, is the present day core of the Mid Cheshire Line. The ends of the line, between Chester and Mickle Trafford, and between Stockport and Manchester, are shared with other routes. The route taken by passenger trains has changed over the years and now differs considerably from the original. The new Northern Rail franchise will see a near doubling of the passenger service from December 2017.