The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed following the passing of the Cheshire Lines Transfer Act in 1865. It was the second largest joint railway in the UK, after the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. It regulated traffic on railway lines in Lancashire and Cheshire.

The CLC was created from the Stockport and Woodley Junction Railway, the Cheshire Midland Railway, the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway and the West Cheshire Railway. It later absorbed the Garston and Liverpool Railway. The Midland Railway became an equal partner in 1866.

Following the opening of a railway line between Manchester and Liverpool in 1873, the CLC’s headquarters were established at Liverpool Central Station from 1874.

The CLC built Manchester Central Station in 1880 as the Manchester terminus for the Midland Railway lines.

A regrouping of the railways took place in 1923, with the Midland Railway joining the London and North Western Railway in a group with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The CLC lines were split between the London Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway. In 1948, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway was nationalised, becoming part of British Railways, and shortly afterwards the CLC lines came under the control of the London Midland Region.

Cheshire Lines Railway was an alternative name for the Cheshire Lines Committee, mostly used for marketing the network of railways operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee.