HS2 to be delayed again as costs spiral by £37bn after 'litany of failure'
The Government is set to announce another delay to the opening of HS2 following a “litany of failure” that has driven up costs by £37bn.
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The remaining section of the high-speed rail between London and Birmingham will not be ready by the target date of 2033, it is understood, with a further delay of at least two years.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to reveal the news in the House of Commons today as the Government attempts to reset how major infrastructure is delivered.
She will tell MPs she is drawing a “line in the sand” over the beleaguered rail project that has been a “litany of failure”, after billions were wasted on “constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and bad management”. ,
Ms Alexander will reportedly say that the Conservatives increased the cost of HS2 by £37 billion between 2012, when the line was given the green light by the Coalition government, and the 2024 general election.
The Transport Secretary is also expected to address allegations of fraud by contractors to HS2 which have emerged recently.
Read more: Milestone for HS2 as giant tunnel machine breaks through in Birmingham
Read more: Desire to ‘meet every concern’ over HS2 causes extra costs and delays – adviser
She will warn taxpayers may have been defrauded by subcontractors who have inflated costs, and pledge that “consequences will be felt”.
It comes after it emerged earlier this week that a sub-contractor working on the rail line was reported to HMRC following an internal probe.
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. This will set out the way we will do that,” a source told the PA news agency.
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, who was appointed late last year.
He will assess the construction of the project’s first phase from London to Birmingham.A second, wider review into the governance and accountability of HS2, 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.
Ms Alexander is also set to announce a new chair of HS2.
The current chair, Sir Jon Thompson, previously announced he would stand down in the spring of this year. His replacement will be Mike Brown, The Telegraph reports.
Mr Brown is the former commissioner for Transport for London, who helped to oversee the deliver 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 due to spiralling costs.
Concerns about the costs of the stunted project have persisted, with £100 million spent on a bat tunnel aimed at mitigating the railway’s environmental impact singled out by Sir Keir Starmer for criticism.
