The Transport Secretary has declared an end to an “era of neglect” on HS2 as she set out plans to reset the project, delivering the railway as quickly as possible and at the lowest reasonable cost.
Following years of mismanagement, the Transport Secretary has convened the team that delivered the Elizabeth Line and set out new costs and timeframes for the project, including efforts to cut construction costs and get passengers on trains sooner.
The Government announced today the project is now expected to cost between £87.7 and £102.7 billion, with two thirds of the increase due to works being missed from the scope of the original project plan, underestimation by previous Governments, inefficient delivery – and the remaining third due to inflation.
The Government has also confirmed HS2 will run at 320km/h (200mph), aligning with speeds across Europe and Japanese bullet trains. In previous plans, HS2 trains were set to run at 360km/h (225mph) but with no existing track to test trains at that speed in Great Britain, adding to spiralling costs and build time.
The change in speed could deliver savings of up to £2.5bn and at least a year in delivery time, so communities can start to benefit sooner.
The first trains are now expected to start between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street between 2036 and 2039. An estimate of the full scheme from London Euston to Curzon Street and a connection to the West Coast Main Line, is between 2040 and 2043.
HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild’s ongoing reset has already borne fruit – with six major construction milestones reached earlier than planned in the last year – as well as eliminating 300 bureaucratic roles, and scrutinising contracts to ensure taxpayers get value for money.
The Government is committed to delivering HS2 in full between Birmingham and London, with a new assessment revealing it could cost as much to cancel the project as it would to complete it, while delivering none of the benefits.
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said:
“Taxpayers, passengers and communities along the route have been let down by years of mismanagement on HS2.
“I share their anger about the waste and mess, but I am proud that this Government has worked with HS2’s new senior team to get this project off life support and on the road to recovery.
“We will get the job done but we will also take every opportunity to save time and money in the process, getting a grip on delivery, controlling costs, and stripping out the complexity that’s plagued the project in the past.
“We can and must build big infrastructure projects in Britain. But we also need competent people in charge of them. This is the same team that delivered the Elizabeth Line. We have done it before, we will do it again.”
The Government has published in full a comprehensive report by Sir Stephen Lovegrove into the Civil Service’s role in HS2’s execution to date and will respond to Sir Stephen’s recommendations after thorough consideration of the findings.
HS2 will deliver houses, jobs and growth. Recent forecasts show it is already contributing £20 billion to the economy over the next decade around its station sites and depot in the West Midlands and west London, plus 63,000 new homes and over 49,000 new jobs in these areas.
Commercial development at Euston is estimated to add £41 billion to the economy over the next three decades and support 34,000 new jobs, with high-tech tunnelling machines now underway to make HS2 to Euston a reality. Over 6,100 contracts have been awarded to UK businesses, with more than half of these to small and medium-size enterprises.
