It’s very very expensive in the short and medium term. Even back in the 1960s, the British Rail Midland Region had to sneak WCML electrification under the noses of the Manderins by progressively extending an “experimental pilot project”. When the ECML was done in the 80s it was done on the cheap, which today results in closures whenever anything more than a stiff breeze blows the overhead lines down.
It’s very very expensive in the short and medium term. Even back in the 1960s, the British Rail Midland Region had to sneak WCML electrification under the noses of the Manderins by progressively extending an “experimental pilot project”. When the ECML was done in the 80s it was done on the cheap, which today results in closures whenever anything more than a stiff breeze blows the overhead lines down.