In message , at 11:33:29 on Sat, 21
Jul 2007, tim..... remarked:
"Thameslink is going to be approved,"

so that will make it almost 20 years late then

It's been "approved" several times over. All it needs now is funding. If
the OP means that "funding has been allocated", then that's a useful
step, but quite disjoint from the approval process.
--
Roland Perry