UK-Intercity Express Programme will get green light

It appears, despite the government's austerity measures, that the IEP will go ahead after all:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6AK03B20101121

http://rail-news.com/2010/11/21/konnichiwa-iep/

people in Tyneside are likely on edge (as of last Friday):
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8 ... rail_work/

We'll wait and see.
This proposal has been rumbling on for years. The number of trains to be built depends on how much electrification will go ahead. The Great Western electrification announced by the last government is unfunded.

Here is the latest announcement
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11834531

Plans for £8bn of investment in Britain's railways have been announced by the government.

It is buying about 2,000 new carriages to tackle overcrowding, electrifying some lines and pressing ahead with the Thameslink programme.

But plans to modernise the London-Swansea line are still on hold and it will be the end of the decade before the investment is complete.

Passengers also face rises in ticket prices to help pay for the investments.

It looks as though the railways have escaped the "cuts". However, the Great Western electrification to Swansea looks less likely to go ahead soon. But if the line is electrified to Oxford it will mean the Bristol and Swansea project would be an extension when it eventually goes ahead.