[qasdfdsaq]

Well, I'm sure incompetence plays a part but the most recent delay was due to some case being taken all the way up to the supreme court to demand the right to object to the government's plans...

To some extent I'd prefer the system in use in Switzerland, where public policy decisions are made directly by the voting public, not the politicians. Public interest seizures and/or works should of course provide adequate compensation for those who lose property but having major projects get held up for years going around the houses in the court system over a technicality is ludicrous.

I'm still impressed how China have gone from virtually no high speed rail at all to the biggest high speed rail network in the world over the course of barely a decade. Partly helped by the government's tendency to make people disappear when they object.