Open one branch and close another, regardless of the fact at since March 2020 there must have been plenty of opportunities to accelerate this work, meh
That's basically what they are doing. The new running tunnel has been built. They need to do the joining bit including fiddling with the signalling etc.
plenty of opportunities to accelerate this work
Not really. Start to finish it is a 15 year project.
Open one branch and close another, regardless of the fact at since March 2020 there must have been plenty of opportunities to accelerate this work, meh