Delays to HS2 are being considered among other options to curb rising costs, the project’s boss has admitted. The planned high-speed railway which will link London, the Midlands and the North of England has long been plagued by cost increases and delays. HS2 Ltd.’s CEO, Mark Thurston, told the BBC he was looking at the project’s timing and phasing with the government. The government said work was well underway to bring “transformational benefits…for generations to come.” Work on the first stretch of HS2, between London and Birmingham, is 40% complete, with 30,000 people working on it. But the price tag of the project, which is the biggest of its kind in Europe, has swollen from the £33bn outlined in 2010 to at least £71bn. One estimate has put its total cost above £100bn. The soaring cost of materials has posed a fresh challenge, at a time when the Department for Transport’s budget is not due to keeping with inflation.
Timing
Mr Thurston told the BBC the impact of inflation had been “significant” in the past year, “whether that’s in timber, steel, aggregates for all the concrete we need to use to build the job, labour, all our energy costs, fuel”. He said the organisation was working with suppliers and the government to find ways of mitigating this. “We’re looking at the timing of the project, the phasing of the project, we’re looking at where we can use our supply chain to secure a lot of those things that are costing us more through inflation,” he added. Under ‘Project Silverlight’, ways are being examined to deal with cost pressures on the London-Birmingham stretch. Mr Thurston said HS2 was “protecting” the scope of the first phase. He described a second line of work, ‘Project Blue Diamond’ as “looking at the programme as a whole”. Asked if delaying some parts of the project would help save money, he argued delays did not “typically” save money in the long run. However, he added “we’re looking at a number of options with the Department for Transport”.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the government said it continued to carry out regular reviews of the scope, schedule and cost of the project to ensure it delivered value for money. HS2 trains are due to carry their first passengers between Old Oak Common station in West London and Birmingham, between 2029 and 2033. Euston station in the capital’s centre is currently scheduled to opening later, by 2035 – with a new design being worked up that has 10 platforms, not 11 which had been planned. Further stretches to Crewe and then to Manchester are due by 2034 and 2041. Most of the Eastern leg to Leeds was scrapped in the 2021 Integrated Rail Plan. There has been speculation the government could decide to axe remaining plans for a high speed line between the West and East Midlands.
Scott Knowles from business group the East Midlands Chamber, said firms needed to know whether this section would definitely go ahead. He said certainty created confidence and investment, and “any air of a lack of commitment in terms of investing in the East Midlands… will make businesses think twice”. Some critics of the project, who believe the money could be better spent elsewhere, would like to see the railway scrapped or scaled back north of Birmingham. Another rumoured option is not to build a new line between Crewe and Manchester.
‘Big savings needed’
William Barter, a rail consultant who’s worked on the project argues that would be a mistake. “If a big saving is needed, perhaps tens of billions, the only way of doing it unfortunately is by not doing part of the project”, he told the BBC. “I think that’s a temptation we have to resist… because if you don’t do part of the project, you lose the benefits that go with that part of the project, and you leave the expensive Phase One that’s now under construction under-used”.
HS2 critic Lord Berkeley has suggested terminating the line at Old Oak Common, and repurposing what remains of the railway, with trains running at lower speeds than currently planned. In January the Chancellor quashed a report that the railway may not reach Euston, insisting he didn’t see any “conceivable circumstances” in which that would happen. “The Government remains fully committed to the Integrated Rail Plan, including its commitment to deliver the high-speed line from Euston to Manchester.” Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “Tens of thousands of jobs, and billions in economic growth are dependent on this project. Ministers need to own up and explain why critical decisions….are being delayed”.
