Travelled to London today and generally saw signs of progress on the electrification, but much less so on 4-tracking. At this rate could easily envisage a situation where there's full electrification, but no track underneath
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Quick - let's write up the script for a new series of Yes, [Transport] Minister.
Scene: Site visit somewhere hear Wymington - Jim Hacker arrives - to be greeted by Network Rail chief project engineer.
NR project egineer: Welcome to our MML electrification and four tracking project, minister.
JH: Oh, thank you very much. Gosh, it is windy up here in the north, isn't it? Now, where's all the new equipment for Britain's latest super railway?
NR PE: Well, here you see the new overhead line equipment, 25kV high tension caternery, designed at this point for 90 mph trains, you understand.
JH: Let's just call it high-speed, shall we?
NR PE: Of course, minister. And just there you can see the latest four-aspect signalling units for customer safety, sitting in that landscaped grassed cutting, and over there we have a new road bridge, rebuilt at great expense to take the new track.
JH: Yes, all very beautiful. All well and good, but where it is?
NR PE: Where is what, minister?
JH: The fourth track! We've got nice overhead wires, lovely signals with colour lights, new bridges, landscaped grassed slopes, badger tunnels and newt runs, but NO TRACK. Where is the track?
NR PE But minister, we can't possibly have track before all the ancilliary equipment was in place ....
(He would be right, more or less, of course.)
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Wellingborough (65m 09ch) - Kettering (72m 01ch)
I think a lot more masts have been installed over the slows between Wellingborough Yards and Weetabix.
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Is the Weetabix factory still there, and in production - or is it part of a heritage centre these days?