London wins again!

I had to pinch myself but no, I wasn’t dreaming! We all know that three major electrification projects, all well beyond London, have been scuppered by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling and the Department for Transport on grounds of cost.

This is regardless of the obvious long-term ‘green’ (and other) benefits of electrification, and all because alternative (but as yet unproved) modes of propulsion are said to be capable of running those routes as effectively but at a lesser cost. We will wait - a long time no doubt - to be convinced on that one.

Adding to that, we are now told that HS2, supposedly the harbinger of wealth to all areas north of Watford, should be looked at again in the light of reduced speed and capacity targets. In other words, cut its cloth.

But if HS2 is so far down the scale of needs as to be under threat, almost before the first sod of earth is turned, has no one thought of avoiding the need for tunnels and their associated prohibitive costs?

I have no doubt that if the route were to be a new motorway, sizeable chunks of that would not be required to go underground, just to pacify a few nimbys.

Finally - and this is where the pinching comes in - as if from nowhere, when Crossrail runs short of a couple of billion, the public coffers stump up without the blink of an eye! So, nothing changes: affluent London wins yet again.

And what’s the betting that Crossrail 2 will also get the nod, almost regardless of cost or need? How can Grayling justify this?

As public funds will now (presumably) be allocated on a much fairer basis than is currently the case, can we expect the other schemes to be supported in the same way as Crossrail? Hmm, so I was dreaming after all… Philip Camm, Uppingham