Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has spoken to MPs, calling HS2 “a symbol of the country’s decline”
Along with a new HS2 cost estimate ranging from £87.7bn – £102.7bn, trains are now not expected to start running between London’s Old Oak Common and Birmingham’s Curzon Street station until sometime between May 2036 and October 2039.
Expectations of HS2 trains has also been lowered from the initially planned 224mph to 199mph.
“Like changing the engine of the aeroplane mid-flight”
Speaking at the Houses of Parliament, Alexander said: “there’s no getting away from the fact, Mr Speaker, the vast majority of HS2’s previous budget was blown on completing around a third of the entire project.
“It gives me no pleasure to say the expected cost of completing HS2 is now between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion priced in 2025.
“Two thirds of this increase is down to past misunderstanding of the work required, underestimation and inefficiency – issues within the control of HS2 Ltd, some of its suppliers and previous governments.
“The remaining third is linked to inflation, which was not factored into previous cost estimates regularly enough.”
At the same time as the transport secretary’s speech, the Lovegrove report has been published.
Alexander continued: “Madam Deputy Speaker, despite this sorry situation, we are determined to claw back as much time and money as possible.
“Not only does the Lovegrove report corroborate the Stewart Review’s damning assessment of the decision-making environment around HS2 under the previous government.
But it also talks about the original ‘gold plating’ of HS2.
“It talks about the focus – and I quote: ‘on the highest possible speeds, resulting in bespoke and highly engineered design.”
The Stewart Report stated “no reasonable way” to deliver HS2 to original schedule
The Stewart Report served as a wider review into the governance and accountability of HS2 Ltd, and was published last year alongside the original announcement of delays to the project.
Criticisms of the project at this time include planning and development failures such as the £100m bat tunnel, the signing of contracts against advice, and the scrapping of plans to redesign Euston Station, which were expensive to draw up.
At the time, Alexander said: “Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted by constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and bad management, […] It’s an appalling mess. But it’s one we will sort out.”
This was also when Mike Brown was announced as the chair of HS2.
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