Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to announce a significant reduction in HS2 train speeds as part of a cost-saving overhaul of the troubled Birmingham rail project. Services between Birmingham and London will now have a maximum speed of 320km/h (199mph), down from the originally planned 360km/h (224mph).
Speed Reduction Details
The decision, expected to be confirmed on Tuesday, May 19, aims to cut costs on the high-speed railway. Despite the reduction, trains will still travel faster than Japan's bullet trains, which reach speeds of up to 285km/h (177mph).
Review Findings
A major review accompanying the announcement is anticipated to criticize the previous approach of "gold plating" HS2, including prioritizing the highest possible speeds, as a key factor in the project's difficulties. Sir Stephen Lovegrove, former national security adviser, is expected to condemn "original sins" in the decision-making process.
Revised Budget and Timeline
Ms Alexander will announce a revised target cost for the project, expected to be under £100 billion. The original estimate for building the high-speed railway, including now-scrapped extensions to Leeds and Manchester, was £32.7 billion (in 2011 prices), but costs have soared. In January 2024, HS2 Ltd's then-executive chairman Sir Jon Thompson indicated the cost for the Birmingham to London phase could reach £66.6 billion.
A new timetable for HS2's launch will also be outlined, as the previous target of 2029 to 2033 is no longer achievable. The first phase was originally planned for 2026.
Government Response
A Government source stated: "The Lovegrove Report further confirms the astonishing extent to which previous Conservative governments had totally lost control of HS2, frittering billions of taxpayers' money away and leaving the project no closer to being finished than when it started. It has been a sorry mess, but this Government has done the hard yards to pull the project out of the dirt and deliver the better connections that have long been promised to the Midlands."
Assessment of Cancellation
The Financial Times reported that Labour ministers ordered an internal assessment on whether canceling the entire scheme would be more cost-effective than continuing. The conclusion was that abandoning the project, which has already cost an estimated £40 billion, would prove at least as expensive as completing it.
HS2 Ltd's Mark Wild cautioned Jo Shanmugalingam, permanent secretary at the Department for Transport, that scrapping a program of HS2's magnitude is "unprecedented in the Western world." In a letter, he noted that land would need full remediation, including demolishing all built assets and returning land to its original condition, with little evidence that removing assets would cost much less than creating them.
