The McNulty review was aimed at cutting costs despite a static or growing rail network – but considering the seeming sense of so many proposed new or reinstated routes, it can be hard to know where to stop.
East West Rail makes a lot of sense for people and businesses in the semi-circle west, north and north-east of London, and sense for those using overcrowded trains into London containing passengers only needing to go into the capital to come back out of it again.
But it never got off the ground in the boom years, when so many other rail infrastructure projects got the go-ahead, and now the industry is funding scores of such improvements, alongside mammoth schemes like Crossrail and, potentially HS2, while also considering McNulty’s recommendations on annual costs.
If there was money for every sensible idea, this country might be a better place: but East West Rail might have missed its chance.
