Not Kafka, more like Cervantes.
- There is funding to see if the SOBC stacks up.
- One of the "pro" camp posted the "not necessarily via Crewe" comment, not me.
- It is a fact well known that the line from Stockport to Piccadilly has no free paths, and this is unlikely to change after 2033 either. This means that whichever way you go, via Northwich or via a new chord line at Elworth.
- Crewe will not (as currently planned) have any capacity for additional paths from Sandbach. These services simply aren't in the TSS, so the Department is making no allowance for them and neither is HS2.
Apart from the lack of attention to proof-reading in , being given Grayling's support should ring an alarm bell, as his recent record on these things is not good.
- All an SOBC could do (if positive) is make the case for an OBC study.
- An OBC (if positive) makes the case for an FBC study.
- If the FBC works then you have a scheme, provided you can fund it.
... is clearly nonsense, as any FBC will have to prove it works right away, and captures a big enough market to do so. If it doesn't go anywhere relevant then it won't have a market - The Department is not (and I speak from working directly with them, very recently) not in the habit of funding speculative schemes.
I believe that your giant is a windmill.
(I don't work for WSP, but I know they will not find business case benefits where none are to be had, and they will be realistic about all the costs involved, more so than that reported in the 2009 study)