HS2 could cost more than £100 billion and may now not open until 2039, the transport secretary has warned. Heidi Alexander told the Commons she was “angry” about the “obscene increase in time and costs”, which she blamed on “the failures of successive Conservative governments”. She said the expected cost of completing the high-speed railway was between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion.
Cost and Timeline Overruns
Constructing the line from London to Birmingham – including the now-abandoned onward legs to Leeds and Manchester – was initially estimated to cost £32.7 billion in 2011 prices, but the budget has ballooned. Services were planned to launch in 2026, but the new target schedule is between May 2036 and October 2039.
Speed Reduction to Save Money
The transport secretary further announced HS2 trains will run slower than planned to save money. She said the maximum speed of services will be 320 km/h (199 mph), down from the original design of 360 km/h (224 mph). Services will still be among “the fastest trains in Europe”, she told MPs.
Ms Alexander said the cost increase is mostly because of “past misunderstanding of the work required, underestimation and inefficiency, issues within the control of HS2 Ltd, some of its suppliers, and previous governments”. This is a breaking story, more to follow.
