The Labour government yesterday put Britain on a 10-year promise to get the country's rail services back on track.
Hailing the Strategic Rail Authority's (SRA) blueprint for "a railway fit for the 21st century and one in which we can be truly proud", the Transport Secretary, Mr Stephen Byers, declared: "We have the money and now we have a detailed industry plan, so there can be no more excuses."
However the potential for public disappointment was writ large on newspaper billboards across London last night, announcing: "No new cash for railways". Downing Street insisted this was not strictly accurate: yesterday's £67.5 billion package included some £33.5 billion already committed by the government over the past two years, while anticipating an additional £34 billion from the private sector.
And the SRA chairman, Mr Richard Bowker, said there was enough money to achieve the real growth targets in the government's plans, which provide for a new rail academy, sweeping improvements to services, particularly in London and the south-east, and the improvement of facilities at 1,000 stations across Britain before the next election.
However, the Rail Passengers Council said there were "still real worries that the industry remains under-funded"; while the Liberal Democrat spokesman, Mr Don Foster, insisted: "Much of the plan is not new and there is little additional investment."
That charge was echoed in the Commons by the Conservative shadow transport secretary, Ms Theresa May, who said the plan contained "no new money, no new schemes, and no hope for passengers for the future".
The chief executive of the Railtrack Group, Mr Steve Marshall, said private investors needed to receive fair value for their shares and to see Railtrack taken out of administration before further private investment would be forthcoming. "Currently, the spectre of the treatment of Railtrack - as it languishes in administration - and its investors, who are being invited to underpin the massive new investment, casts a shadow over the delivery of the plan."
The ambitious plan commits the government to have 50 per cent more passengers and 80 per cent more freight on the railways by the time of its completion.