Network Rail upgrade delayed by government.
 

No real surprise.:(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33270586

Another case of stuff the north. More ammo for Jeremy Corbyn.

Another case of Party Manifesto being published before doing a reality check. The upgrade timetable required twice the number of workers than Network Rail employ, they can't be in two places at once. Rebuilding railways that are on track-beds 170 years old will throw up unexpected problems, the re-boring of Farnworth tunnel being a good example. These problems all add to additional time and cost.

Progress update on Farnworth Tunnel work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=3&v=M9kPGjWCi50

Great bit of PR film about the project but it was published a week before they hit an enormous problem when the TBM hit an unexpected area of sand. Work had to be stopped until a solution to the problem could be worked out.