It’s a complicated negotiation, but then again it is a negotiation over a multi-billion pound settlement. After a round of requests and counter-proposals, the government in London has proposed to the infrastructure management agency Network Rail for funding in the next five-year ‘Control Period’. A response has come back, to which the government’s arbiter, the Office of Rail and Road, has made its final determination. Except there’s still a final response to come back from Network Rail. Such is the labyrinth of the British railway.