Regarding the Ingatestone underpass: Ł4 million for a footpath underpass, huh!? Seeing that the article was a year old, I had to check what came of it. It's now open:

NetworkRail_New - News Releases - Local MP visits new Ingatestone underpass

Brentwood MP Eric Pickles was in Ingatestone on Friday 25 March to see the newly completed underpass, which allowed Network Rail to permanently close Ingatestone Hall footpath level crossing.

The crossing was identified in 2011 as having inadequate sighting when trains approached. Working closely with Essex County Council, the decision was taken to close the public crossing immediately that same year and pedestrians used an alternative route crossing the railway.

Different ways to make the crossing safer were investigated such as clearing overgrown hedgerow, lowering train speeds and diverting the footpath to a nearby under bridge.

...Work began soon after to build the £4.5m underpass underneath the railway tracks using a `box and jack' method sliding the underpass under the railway while trains were still running over the top to avoid disrupting services.

So £4.5m in the end even. <shakes head> Without knowing the specifics, this sounds like the super-inflated costs known from the USA.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}