"Over the next four years, the Government will invest over £30 billion in transport projects, which is more than was invested during the past four years. This Budget announces £200 million of new funding for rail projects."
A couple of observations: firstly, note how it doesn't say by how much more this £30 billion is bigger than the spend over the previous four years. £25bn? 40pence? And, furthermore, how can an inanimate Budget "announce" anything?
And second, £200 million is less than 1% of the total sum. It's less than the margin of error on some of the bigger projects -- substantially less. Which makes me think it's not really a serious announcement.
I couldn't find any other reference to what this money is going on, although some media reported that it was for "regional railways". My guess is it's a political sop to all those whiners in the regions complaining that London is getting too big a share of rail spending (Thameslink, Crossrail, HS2), but I hope it will be used to make a start on replacing the hideous 4-wheel Pacer trains that are endemic in some parts of the country.
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