On 03/06/2013 10:36, Recliner wrote:
If jobs in its construction are a main justification for the colossal
expenditure, why not just dig large holes by manual labour which would
otherwise be unemployed, and then fill them in again?

Fifty-five thousand jobs at "only" forty-two thousand million pounds (current estimates).

Wow... that's only £763,636 per job.
Where does he claim that the construction jobs are the*main* justification
for the cost?

The Ian Batten school of project evaluation.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail