I have been thinking about this differntly, in my oppinion there is very little chance that alton would open and operate a rail line, but the herratige railway have said they want to expand after the leek expansion towards oakmore, i think the line MAY reopen, under the herratge railway, I don't think there would be any mainline / modern service, but from the perspective of the railway line, it could make a some financial sence as you would have a very popular tourist destination on one end, and leek, which is supposed to get a train station according to this:
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/leek-stoke-train-line-reopen-8804679
but all of this would require funding and would probably take decades