Ignoring the Oxford/ Bristol bits of GWML (which are surely going to happen before long, but we have to align the electrification schedule to the resignalling/remodelling timetable...
....my priorities/expectation would be along the lines of:
1. Tiny bits of electrification left over by BR's penny pinching (e.g. the turn backs at Adwick and Morpeth which would permit EMUs to take over shuttles from Doncaster and Newcastle (bearing in mind
@swt_passenger 's comment about future service patterns not being the same as current ones)
2. Routes that have self contained routes that are at least half hourly services that could be converted (much of the Valley Lines network, the CLC from Liverpool to Manchester) - ideally routes that don't require major disruption at main stations (e.g. I'd suggest Sheffield - Doncaster but you'd probably spend half the budget on all the lines at Sheffield required to do it properly) - Queen Street to Anniesland or Central to East Kilbride are Scottish equivalents, though I appreciate we're not talking Scotland here
3. Routes where bi-mode trains would remove a high frequency of diesel fumes from a city centre (but it isn't feasible to do the whole line right now - if you were considering ordering bi-modes for the next Chiltern franchise then you could wire up the section inside the M25 without having to go all the way to Birmingham - if you wanted to improve air quality in Birmingham you could wire much of the "core" of the Snow Hill lines and let bi-mode trains power themselves all the way to Stratford/ Worcester etc - either scheme would be too much to ask for
in full right now but both are the kind of projects where bi-mode could do the heavy lifting in the polluted cities, without having to find money for the quieter sections of the routes.
4. New passenger lines - e.g. the proposed Ashington services (if a line is worth opening then it should have to justify at least a half hourly service and full electrification from day one)
5. Lines where you could electrify a section that currently has frequent services and change the service pattern - e.g. you could wire from Leeds to Knaresborough and free up a lot of DMUs - as long as you replaced the York service with a separate DMU that goes no further west than Harrogate
6. I don't think that we are going to see all the money spent in one area, if anything happens it'll be a Government who want to show that they are spreading their monies around the country, but there are some "regional" schemes that would have big benefits - e.g. Leeds/ Selby to Hull - but probably too much to expect all the eggs in one basket
7. Something nakedly political - e.g. Bishop Auckland to Saltburn would mean investment in two of the high profile "red wall" seats (Bishop Auckland and Redcar), as well as being very good publicity for the Tees Valley Mayor (who is coincidently a conservative) - I'm not saying it'd be *my* priority but if I was a Downing Street svengali then I'd see lots of good news headlines in being seen to invest in neglected "left behind" towns that Labour apparently ignored -
keeping these places Tory is going to be hard work (assuming Labour are smart enough to elect someone credible like Starmer/ Nandy). I'm sure they'd like to consider Workington on the list, given its political significance, but I can't see that happening
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99. Anything based on "diversionary resilience" or the "if you build it, they will come" approach
