Canada

It's not like we'd have rail experts on the public payroll just sitting around.

And one of the mandates is to reduce consultancies (in large part because there's been a lucrative pipeline of folks going through the public service, retiring, and then acting as consultants at a much inflated wage.)

Are all consultancies unnecessary? Absolutely not! But have all of them been necessary? Again, ask anyone who has worked in any sort of governmental agency and they'll laugh as they regale you. (I still don't know wether to laugh or cry at the guy who earned hundreds of thousands with the recommendation of "you should use this basic microsoft product.")