It's taken nearly 25 years to get CTRL I+II built.
After Maggie Thatcher's insistence on a private-financed project (wqhich the Major government at least turned into a PPP scheme). I submit that if a new high-speed line would be built in the West Coast corridor, there would be a lot of protests, but I would bet it would cause delays of significantly less than 25 years. (Also, with the use of some tunnels, maybe the bulk of potential protests could be avoided.)
The Tories are raring to go, and even talking about Maglev.
Heh, I missed that :-) My personal opinion is that when non-German politicians talk about Maglev, they aren't really serious (and the German ones only want it as prestige). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
So to make it worthwhile, you'd have to go cross country. Which is where it gets very complicated.
The Tory Shadow Transport Minister went to see the German maglev system and is apparently quite serious. But considering the state of the technology and the distances, the idea is a little - shall we say...? - ambitious.
As for Crossrail - even though it's a relatively minor London commuter upgrade, the endless revisions and political reworkings it has been through are typical of UK rail projects that aren't controlled by a single authority.
Transport for London seems good at getting things done. And CTRL I+II have been managed successfully. But everything else is a mess, and there's really no strategic planning lead from the Dept of Transport at all - because cars are better, and air is better still, apparently.
