We "non project 'experts'" see a project taking three times its planned time, and we're certainly going to think it's a failing of the project! I don't think acts of God can be blamed for that... Insufficient preparation and bad planning can.
Given the problems and delays always experienced when introducing new trains, why on earth would anyone close a railway and scrap the old stock before the replacement stock was even close to ready?
Your posts remind me of the old story of the surgeon saying "the operation was a success... but we lost the patient"