Notes:  Twenty years after Beeching's axe finished its work, it was time to start building again (a little) — just the Selby bypass line to straighten the last main (horizontal) kink in the East Coast Main Line (and to avoid the potential for vertical kinks due to subsidence in the underlying Selby coalfield). And then finally (with minor diversions for the Stansted and Heathrow airport links), full, er, steam ahead for the Channel Tunnel, and after the usual delays, the high-speed rail link itself from London should open in 2007. 1997-2007 has probably seen the building of more miles of railway tunnel than any previous decade...