HS2: £87.7-£102.7bn Cost Confirmed; Opening 2036-2039
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed in the Commons yesterday that HS2 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. Top speed has been cut from 360km/h to 320km/h, saving up to £2.5 billion. £44.2 billion has already been spent. Alexander said Labour 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. The Alexander framing — that the announcement is the first substantive policy announcement of the new political week and is the diagnostic signal of Labour government “competence” against the leadership-crisis news cycle — is the lens through which the Tuesday-evening cabinet read it. Shadow Transport Minister Jerome Mayhew accepted overruns but called for “consequential legislative changes” to prevent recurrence.