Faster journey times and electrification between the two cities remains part of the current programme, but this next stage of planning seems to have looped past parts of the EGIP that lost out when the budget was slashed.

BBC: Making tracks and political points

Deutsche Bank forecast that light-vehicle electrification will turn world oil demand downward from 2016, falling by 2030 to 8 percent below current levels or 40 percent below most forecasts.

CNN: Freeing America from its addiction to oil