Commuters reported confusion down at the station after another landslip at Salterhebble blocked the Halifax-Sowerby Bridge route in early March. Trains were diverted Sowerby-Leeds via Brighouse, and a limited Leeds-Halifax/Huddersfield service was maintained, so canny users could get a train to Brighouse and pick up diverted services there (though a separate problem in East Lancs delayed Blackpool-York trains). Thankfully Network Rail got the line clear by teatime the day after the landslip. A speed restriction remained in place at time of writing, whilst work continued to stabilise the cutting under Dudwell Lane. We were disappointed more trains were not diverted between Halifax and Sowerby Bridge by reversing at Greetland, which might have maintained a train service Sowerby Bridge-Bradford during the blockage and provided better for Halifax. We think this sort of thing happened in the past, but hear that the signals at Greetland now only allow such a move in one direction. Progress? Perhaps not.
Image courtesy Network Rail Media Centre.
Halifax and District Rail Action Group 