Knutsford railway station serves the town of Knutsford, in Cheshire, England. It lies south of on the Mid-Cheshire Line to .
The station opened to passengers on 12 May 1862, with a service to . Trains to commenced from 1 January 1863. Services were operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee until nationalisation on 1 January 1948.
The station was built by Cheshire Lines Railway, on the site of the farm mentioned in Elizabeth Gaskell's novel Cranford, where the cow fell into a lime-pit. The goods yard was originally on the south-east side of the track, above the huge brick retaining wall, which ever after became a home for large posters. It was later resited to the north and the original site became the station master's garden; Knutsford often won the competition for the best.
In April 1916, there was an Easter Rising in Ireland, where rebels hoped to form an independent country free from British rule. At least 600 rebels involved in that rising were transported by train from and imprisoned in Knutsford Gaol.
As part of Northern Trains' December 2022 timetable, which focused on additional services within the Manchester area, an additional four trains per day between Chester and Stockport (two in each direction) were introduced during peak hours on Mondays to Saturdays. These services are aimed at those who are commuting to and/or working in Stockport and south Manchester.
The station has a ticket office and parking with 45 spaces (with three accessible), but no taxi rank or drop off/pick up point. A ticket vending machine is in place for purchase of tickets, when the ticket office is closed and for the collection of pre-paid tickets. Live passenger information screens are installed on both platforms. Both platforms are step-free.
Buses call at Adams Hill, adjacent to the car park next to the Chester-bound platform.
On the Chester-bound platform is a Bike & Go bike hire facility, similar in nature to London's Santander Cycles.
Knutsford station has had a relatively large amount of crime in previous years. CCTV cameras are now installed at the station.
Northern Trains operates a generally hourly service between , , , and , with extra trains to/from Stockport at peak times. There is a two-hourly service on Sundays. The average journey time to and from Manchester in the current timetable is around 45 minutes.
Reopening the line between Northwich and has been proposed. This will allow direct trains to from Knutsford, giving a better connection to the Midlands and the South of England.
Proposals for a direct link to from Knutsford were first put forward in the 1990s, not much had seemed to materialise from this. However, in 2009, Network Rail stated that the creation of the third platform has meant that the capacity at Manchester Airport will become constrained by the layover of the trains and congestion at the throat. To solve this issue, it recommended building a line underneath the airport towards Northwich in the 2019 to 2024 period.
The running of tram-trains directly into Manchester via has been investigated. In 2013, TfGM said that running tram-trains to Knutsford would provide poor value for money and that alternative heavy rail options should be looked at instead.