Route between Birmingham and London Euston not expected to be ready until 2043

HS2 is now expected to cost up to £103bn and may not be fully complete until 2043.

The bombshell news was delivered this afternoon by transport secretary Heidi Alexander who admitted the minimum cost of the scheme will be at least £87.7bn. In 2011, the estimated cost of the scheme was put at £32bn, around £49bn today.

Alexander attributed two-thirds of the increase to works being missed from the original scope, underestimations by the previous government and inefficient delivery.

hs2 (2)

Source: HS2 Ltd

Work on HS2 began in earnest six years ago. It is not now expected to be fully complete until 2043

She added that the remaining third of the cost increase has been blamed on inflation.

Alexander told MPs this afternoon that the line would not start running until between 2036 and 2039 with this timeframe confined to services between Birmingham Curzon Street and Old Oak Common in west London.

But the full route, between Birmingham and London Euston, is not expected to be ready between 20240 and 2043 – 17 years away.

Alexander said the revised budget and timescale was part of the long-running reset promised by the government and HS2 chief executive Mark Wild.

“Taxpayers, passengers and communities along the route have been let down by years of mismanagement on HS2,” said Alexander.

“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.”

Alexander also confirmed that the trains would run at 200mph, down from the initially planned 225mph. According to the government, there is no existing track in the UK on which to test trains at this higher speed and cutting it could deliver savings of up to £2.5bn and at least a year in delivery time.

Wild said: “Resetting HS2 was the only way to regain control of the project. We have turned a corner in the last 12 months with significantly improved levels of productivity, helping us to deliver major milestones ahead of schedule.”

Alexander’s statement came as the government published a report by Sir Stephen Lovegrove into the civil service’s role in HS2’s execution to date, which the government will consider before responding to its recommendations.

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