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electrification
The February 2007 edition of Modern Railways put the typical cost of electrification of rail route at £400,000 per single-track kilometre. Electrifying major parts of the current diesel network would not be cheap, but would offer more than an environmental (and potentially cost-per-km) gain. As more of the network is developed for electric trains, so routing and timetabling options increase. Electrification would offer evidence of a strategic approach to the railways, but not one with huge inherent risk like new high-speed lines, which some argue would do little to discourage internal air journeys anyway.
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