How the railway works #2

This fiscal gem from the BBC...

Lord Adonis told the conference that £500m had been spent solely on compensating train companies that used the West Coast Main Line during its upgrade.

If only we could all have jobs where we were paid to do nothing.

UPDATE: This from a sharp eyed reader...

Have you not missed something in your link to the Adonis on new versus upgrade?

It says the new line was 'announced in January'.

Was it?

A company to look into the possibility yes, but surely no new line has been announced at all.

Classic spin!