Infrastructure and transport: the basics, refreshed

Infrastructure is the part of the economy you only notice when it stops working. Most of the time it is invisible: water arrives, trains run, freight moves, power stays on.

Behind that quiet are long planning cycles, large balance sheets and a steady backlog of renewals. Decisions made decades ago about pipe materials or bridge spans show up today as either a calm maintenance schedule or an urgent rebuild.

When you read about a new transport project, it helps to ask three questions: what problem is it solving, who pays for it, and what happens to the existing network while it's being built. The answers usually explain why a seemingly straightforward project is anything but.

We'll treat infrastructure as a continuing beat, not just a sequence of openings and overruns.