HS2: £87.7-£102.7bn Cost, Opening Pushed to 2036-2039
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed in the Commons today that the HS2 high-speed rail line will cost between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion in 2025 prices — roughly double the previous government’s figure in 2019 terms — and that the first trains will not run between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street until 2036-2039, up to six years late. The top speed has been cut from the original 360km/h to 320km/h, saving up to £2.5 billion and allowing delivery a year earlier. £44.2 billion has already been spent. Alexander said Labour had inherited a “litany of failure”; “If it seems like an obscene increase in time and costs, it is because it is. If it seems like I’m angry, it is because I am.”
HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Wild has been set a target of delivering the project by 2037 at a cost of £92.2 billion. The full Euston-Curzon Street service plus West Coast Main Line connection is not expected to run until 2040-2043. Two-thirds of the cost increase is attributed to the previous government’s underestimate, inefficient delivery and missed scope; one-third to inflation. Shadow Transport Minister Jerome Mayhew accepted the early years had been beset with overruns but called for “consequential legislative changes” to prevent recurrence. Andy Meaney, who contributed to the Oakervee HS2 review, said the speed reduction “should have been taken a long time ago”. The original 2012 plan ran to Manchester and Leeds at £42.6 billion; both legs were cancelled by Conservative prime ministers Boris Johnson (Leeds, 2021) and Rishi Sunak (Manchester, 2023).