If you consider ETCS Level 3 then how could it not be? Lights on sticks and the wires, electronics boxes and electricity needed to make them work don't come cheap.
We're only talking Level 2 only here, so much of the lineside equipment is still needed for train detection and the operation of points. The detection part would mostly disappear with Level 3, which I guess NR will consider adopting if it becomes mainstream.
I'm willing to bet that I won't see ETCS in operation on all, or even most lines nationwide within my lifetime, purely due to the astronomical cost involved.
It doesn't make sense to replace conventional signalling before it is life-expired, either from a cost point of view or considering the relatively small number of technical staff who are yet familiar with it. So yes, the transition will take many decades.
But the ECML introduction (with still no schedule for north of Grantham) involves vast expenditure on first-in-class adaptation of numerous haulage types, training of drivers, elaborate cooperation and information sharing between Network Rail, traction owners and operators on a scale never before seen, and one type of testing after another after another. Eventually it will settle down but it's reasonable to wonder how long this will take, and how overdue resignalling in some parts of the country will have become by then.
On the section south of Peterborough virtually all passenger stock is modern and was designed for easy upgrade to ETCS. I believe IC225 has gone by the time this area converts to ETCS with no signals. Unless it's changed recently the intention is to keep the signals between Peterborough and Stoke, thus avoiding having to fit things like 170s and the EMR 158s which I imagine the signalling people hope will have gone before they fit ETCS in the other areas they operate in. There's relatively little freight south of Peterborough, but what there is will need to be managed closely to ensure it has a fitted locomotive, until all locos are fitted.
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