So far, however, it lacks the heavy hitters such as former American presidents who might loosen the purse-strings and keep projects on the rails.

ECONOMIST: International aid

Outside intervention might yet keep the talks on the rails.

ECONOMIST: America at a loss

Two railway watchdogs, the Eisenbahnbundesamt (EBA) and the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), try to keep DB on the rails, by checking how it manages such conflicts of interest as it allocates routes, sets timetables and schedules repairs.

ECONOMIST: German railways

Economic Affairs Minister and CDA leader Maxime Verhagen said on his Twitter feed earlier on Monday that the main concern was "how, on the way to elections, we can keep the economy and finances on the rails".

BBC: Dutch government falls in budget crisis

In 2009, many used fiscal stimulus packages to keep their economies on the rails.

BBC: Latin America is enjoying the good times - at last

Aside from the transfer of resources from Bayer to Merck, there may be one other aggrieved party: Allianz, which sold its shares in good faith to keep an agreed merger on the rails.

ECONOMIST: Two historic German drugs firms scrap for control of a third

On the rail network, Mr Hammond said night time "ghost trains" were being run in an attempt to keep lines open but "build up of ice on third rails across the Southeastern and Southern networks have led to loss of power and trains being stranded, causing severe delays and cancellations".

BBC: Labour berates 'complacency' of snow response