- New HS2 cost a ‘stark increase’ on previous figures, report sayspublished at 14:0514:05As we just reported, the cost of HS2 is now expected to be between £87.7bn and £102.7bn (in 2025 prices).The new figures are equivalent to £70.9 to £82.2 billion in 2019 terms, according to a government report published alongside Heidi Alexander’s statement.This is a separate document to the Lovegrove report, which we are also working our way through.The report calls this a “stark increase on the previous cost range of £35-45 billion (2019 prices) set under the previous government”.The range includes the cost of both “works to date” and “future work excluding inflation”. It covers the cost of the whole programme stretching from London Euston to Birmingham Curzon Street, as well as the connection to the West Coast Main Line at Handsacre Junction.Share
- Committee chair asks what is being done to protect other transport projectspublished at 13:5613:56Alexander says there is provision in the costing she has set out “for the delivery of Euston” and for signalling costs. She says she has also “gone out to market to attract private investment”.Chair of the transport select committee Ruth Cadbury is up next. She asks what Alexander is doing now to ensure other essential transport projects – including the Lower Thames Crossing and the Northern Powerhouse rail project – do not go the same way.Alexander addresses Northern Powerhouse Rail – she says the government is working with local leaders to “agree scope in advance, to agree priorities and sequencing so we know what elements of the overall programme will be delivered first”.Share
- Government publishes report on HS2 failurespublished at 13:5013:50The Lovegrove report – which has looked into lessons learned from HS2’s failures – has just been published.We’re combing through it and will bring you the key lines shortly.Share
- Trains will run as fast as Japan’s bullet trains, says Alexanderpublished at 13:4813:48Mayhew asks Alexander what the new cost figures include.He asks whether they cover the cost of all of the rolling stock (the trains) and to what extent the funding of Euston station is included.”Ultimately the government is right to take steps to reduce costs on this project,” he says, adding that “errors were made and should be rectified”.Mayhew adds that he is glad to see the continued support for HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild and his team.In response, Alexander says taking credit for the appointment of Wild is bit like “an arsonist demanding praise for calling the fire brigade”.She adds that reducing the speed of the trains to 320km/h (199 mph) will mean the trains are “running as fast as bullet trains in Japan”.On bat tunnels, Alexander says no more will be built on the HS2 project, and that the government has changed legislation that will lead to a “different approach to protected species in future”.
- Most recent target date was 2033 – it’s now 2036 at earliestpublished at 13:4213:42
Transport correspondentThe transport secretary has said the first HS2 services are now not expected to run from Old Oak Common to Birmingham Curzon Street until sometime between May 2036 and October 2039.The most recent target date had been 2033.The full scheme between London Euston and Handsacre Junction is not expected to open until between May 2040 and December 2043.Share - Conservatives will support actions that can reduce costs, says shadow ministerpublished at 13:3913:39Shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew has responded for the Conservatives.He accepts “it is true” that the early years of HS2 were beset with issues, as HS2 Ltd failed to maintain control of the budget – and the government transport department allowed them to get away with it.But he says the appointment of current CEO of HS2 Ltd Mark Wild – under the Tories – has meant the organisation is in better shape.Where there are actions that can reduce cost, the Conservatives will support them, he adds.But Mayhew urges the government to set out how new measures will save money and deliver against the new timetable, given concerns about trust in the project.Share
- Government will deliver HS2 ‘to completion’published at 13:3613:36Alexander confirms that “it could cost almost as much to cancel the line as it would to finish it, while delivering none of the benefits”.So, she says, the Labour government will deliver the project “to completion”.She says previous prime ministers in her view “created the world’s most expensive slow-motion car crash and they barely batted an eyelid”.
- Lower speeds will lower costs and let project finish sooner, says Alexanderpublished at 13:3513:35Alexander now turns to what she calls the “gold-plating” of HS2. She says this included a focus on the “highest possible speeds” resulting in a “bespoke and highly engineered design”, describing it as a “massively overspec-ed folly”.Mark Wild, HS2’s CEO, has been asked to remove this “gold-plating” from the project, Alexander says, adding that speed will now reach 320 km/h, which she says will lower the cost by £2.5bn and see the project completed one year sooner.Share
- Alexander tells MPs she is ‘angry’ over state of HS2published at 13:3213:32Alexander lets her frustration show.”If it seems like an obscene increase in time and costs, it is because it is,” she tells MPs.”If it seems like I’m angry, it is because I am,” she adds.She also expresses her frustration on behalf of taxpayers and rail construction workers, as well as passengers who continue wait for new services.Share
- First services to Birmingham expected by 2036 at the earliestpublished at 13:3113:31Alexander says the expected cost of completing HS2 is now between £87.7bn and £102.7bn – priced in 2025.She says two thirds of this increase is due to “past misunderstanding of the work required” and “issues within the control of HS2 Ltd, some of its suppliers and previous governments”. The remaining third is linked to inflation, she says.She says the government expects first services to run from Old Oak Common to Birmingham Curzon Street between May 2036 and October 2039.She adds: “Lessons have been learnt from the Stewart review, meaning HS2’s costs and schedules are now built on more solid foundations, with credible estimates published as ranges to ensure they better stand the test of time.”Share
- HS2 to open 2036 at earliest – Alexanderpublished at 13:3013:30BreakingThe transport secretary now says the first trains will run from Birmingham to Old Oak Common in west London at some point between May 2036 and October 2039.Trains will run to Euston at a point between May 2040 and December 2043.Share
- Budget spent without a ‘single metre of track,’ says Alexanderpublished at 13:2813:28Alexander says the previous government spent most of HS2’s budget without laying a “single metre of track”.”Today is about ending that era of neglect,” she says.Six major construction milestones have been reached earlier than planned in the past year, she says.She adds that HS2 Limited is reviewing the supply chain contracts of the project, and the incentives within them to “ensure we finish the job at the lowest reasonable cost”, in addition to improving oversight.She says there is “no getting away from the fact” that the “vast majority of HS2’s previous budget was blown on completing about a third of the project”.Share
- New cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn – Alexanderpublished at 13:2513:25BreakingHeidi Alexander says the cost of HS2 will now be between £87.7bn and £102.7bn in 2025 prices.Share
- HS2 became ‘signal of country’s decline,’ says Alexanderpublished at 13:2513:25Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander begins her statement by referencing promises made last summer to be “straight” with the country about how the government planned to “reset” the HS2 project.As part of this, she says she is publishing the Lovegrove report today.Alexander goes on to tell MPs about the “litany of failure” Labour inherited, including soaring costs, and huge contracts handed out without price improvements.”Instead of signalling the country’s ambition, HS2 became a signal of the country’s decline,” she suggests.After more than five years of construction and £40bn spent, the country was no closer to having the HS2 railway than before construction began, she adds.
