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Does anyone know about performance on batteries vs. on third rail/OHLE in other countries?

I think the more relevant question is whether or not said "heritage coal mine" would be financially viable...

Well, how much cheaper are the Huddersfield and MML electrification projects then?

Considering the massive cost overruns on HS2, absolutely nothing.

What about e.g. the Merseyrail units? Is there a difference between them running on third rail and them running on batteries?

Is there a notable difference?

It isn't paywalled for me for some reason, here's most of it: https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/02/15/the-horror-story-of-hs2 It's clear that fundamentally the problem with HS2 is that costs have ballooned.

I note that you removed the last section of my sentence...

The point is that the idea that ROSCOs bypass the government only makes sense if you assume governments will happily sign off on increased subsidies but not on one-time capital cost, and that furthermore this is unchangeable. Why is the farebox relevant? Yet as far as I'm aware there has not...

I don't think you've understood my point at all. The point is that private ROSCOs trade buying trains upfront for leasing them - but the money to lease them is still coming from the government. I'm also interested to hear how you think private financing of electrification would work!

But I don't see how ROSCOs in anyway solve this problem, since the government is still paying the rental costs they can just say "no, we aren't giving you the extra £xxx per year leasing brand new trains would cost".

Again, I really don't think that's the case.

I think "railway enthusiasts are interested in what they saw in their childhood" is exaggerated quite a bit. I see plenty of interest in steam on social media from people in their teens and twenties...

Of course the ROSCOs were not ordering new trains and then finding a lessee for them, and BR was allowed to loan rolling stock from a company that provided the capital if it wanted to...

People have claimed a lot of things, including that HS2 is the only solution to the problems facing capacity on the WCML etc. I'm just asking people to temper their expectations.

It's one thing to seize existing rolling stock. It's another for the government to just buy future rolling stock outright.

Yes, obviously Labour will have a rail policy that differs in at least some areas to that of the Tories. That doesn't mean that rail policy will inherently involve reinstating Phase 2, however.

The point is that the idea of Labour commissioning a review into rail that will say "we need to build Phase 2" is nothing but a fantasy at the moment.

Again, forget "shelved" - have they said anything about opening one in the first place?

I don't see what I've done to deserve such a hostile response.