Don't mention the 'T' word

Telegrammed by Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road
Noticeably missing from both the Labour and Conservative manifesti is any commitment to Th*m*sl*nk.

This project is, of course, fully funded in Control Period 4 which ends on 31 March 2014.

But with London Bridge remodelling and the new train fleet deliveries running through to the end of 2016 - two years into CP5 (the Control Period of Doom) - Thameslink appears at serious risk of truncation.

And that's before the great experiment of resignalling with ETCS plus an ATO overlay for 24 trains/hour.

With CP5 promising massive cut-backs in railway funding is this mass aversion to the 'T' word an augury?