HS2 opening to be delayed beyond 2033

The opening of HS2 will be delayed beyond the planned date of 2033, the UK Government will confirm.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to tell Parliament on Wednesday afternoon there is “no reasonable way to deliver” the high-speed railway on schedule and within budget.

The project has already suffered repeated delays and soaring costs despite being scaled back.

Ms Alexander will tell the Commons she is drawing a “line in the sand” over the beleaguered rail project, as the Government attempts to reset how the UK delivers major infrastructure.

Ministers plan to learn from the mistakes of HS2 so that they do a better job when it comes to projects like Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Lower Thames Crossing, it is understood.

“HS2 has made Britain a laughing stock in terms of its ability to deliver big infrastructure projects, and it has to end,” a Government source told the PA news agency.

“This will set out the way we will do that.”

Future

The result of two reviews into HS2 are expected to be announced alongside the Transport Secretary’s statement.

The first of these is an interim report by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, who was appointed late last year.

He will assess the construction of the project from London to Birmingham.

A second, wider review into the governance and accountability of HS2 Ltd, led by James Stewart, will also report back.

This is expected to set out what has gone wrong with the project, and what ministers can learn for future infrastructure projects.

The Transport Secretary is also expected to address allegations of fraud by contractors to HS2 Ltd which have emerged recently.

Probe

Earlier this week, it emerged HS2 Ltd reported a sub-contractor working on the rail line to HMRC following an internal probe.

During the statement, Ms Alexander is set to announce a new chair of HS2 Ltd.

The current chair, Sir Jon Thompson, previously announced he would stand down in the spring of this year.

His replacement will be Mike Brown, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Mr Brown is the former commissioner for Transport for London, who helped to oversee the delivery of Crossrail, the transport project which became London’s Elizabeth line.

HS2 was originally due to run between London and Birmingham, then onto Manchester and Leeds, but the project was severely curtailed by the Conservatives in power because of spiralling costs.

The first phase was initially planned to open by the end of 2026, but this was pushed back to between 2029 and 2033.

In 2013, HS2 was estimated to cost £37.5 billion (at 2009 prices) for the entire planned network, including the now-scrapped extensions from Birmingham.

Cost

In June last year, HS2 Ltd assessed the cost for the line between London and Birmingham would be up to £66 billion.

Concerns about the costs of the stunted project have persisted.

Revelations in November last year that HS2 Ltd spent £100 million on a bat tunnel aimed at mitigating the railway’s environmental impact stunned Westminster, and were singled out by Sir Keir Starmer for criticism.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for transport, Peredur Owen Griffiths says money is still owed to Wales for HS2.

He said: “This further delay in work on the HS2 project serves as a stark reminder again the Wales is missing out on billions of rail funding that we’re owed from an overrun project, of which not a single inch of track comes close to Wales.

“There’s no doubt there will be increase to the £4bn+ owed to Wales – a figure quoted by the Labour Secretary of State herself when Labour were in opposition, who agreed with us that HS2 was a scandal that needed correcting.

“Unlike Labour, who are happy to give up on the funding Wales is owed, a Plaid Cymru Government will be unrelenting in demanding Wales’ billions, and starting to right the wrongs of historic rail underfunding. Wales deserves better.”