Traveling on the (circa) 11:45 Chiltern semi-fast from Leamington to Solihull today, and leaving either on time or a minute late, we approached Hatton Bank at a less than sparkling pace, but steadily climbed it, overtaking a Freightliner container train in the loop, which I assumed was the reason for the prior slow running.
However, we then ground to a halt at the top of the bank and the Freightliner was let out of the loop in front of us. When we eventually got under way, it was double yellow and yellow through to Solihull, including down to walking pace at Dorridge!
The result was we were 14 minutes down at Solihull, with a knock-on 5 minute delay to the next two passenger services according to the screens, the Chiltern stopper to Moor Street and a LM local.
Just wondering ..... I thought when it came to traffic regulation, passenger services automatically took priority over freight because of the delay issue isnt this the case? Would there have been a compelling reason to give the freight priority over such a long section, presumably through to Tyseley?
However, we then ground to a halt at the top of the bank and the Freightliner was let out of the loop in front of us. When we eventually got under way, it was double yellow and yellow through to Solihull, including down to walking pace at Dorridge!
The result was we were 14 minutes down at Solihull, with a knock-on 5 minute delay to the next two passenger services according to the screens, the Chiltern stopper to Moor Street and a LM local.
Just wondering ..... I thought when it came to traffic regulation, passenger services automatically took priority over freight because of the delay issue isnt this the case? Would there have been a compelling reason to give the freight priority over such a long section, presumably through to Tyseley?