HS2 Cost Reset Tops £102.7bn as Train Speeds Cut

BBC Business reported Tuesday that the HS2 cost reset has placed the total bill for the troubled UK high-speed rail project at between £87.7bn and £102.7bn in 2025 prices. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander delivered the announcement to the House of Commons, pledging the government would see the project through to completion despite the staggering overrun.

A Project Mired in Delay and Overspend

Alexander framed the update as a formal reset of a scheme she described as a catalogue of failure. Two thirds of the cost increase stems from poor original estimates, inefficient delivery, and work left out of earlier project scopes, the government said. The remaining third reflects inflation. The transport secretary told MPs the scale of the increase was, in her own words, obscene, and she did not hide her frustration at the inherited position.

Services between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street are now expected to begin between 2036 and 2039. That is up to six years beyond the most recently stated target of 2033. Full trains from London Euston through to a West Coast Main Line connection are not pencilled in until 2040 to 2043.

Speed Target Trimmed to Save £2.5bn

One notable change involves the trains themselves. The original design called for a top speed of 360 kilometres per hour. That figure has been cut to 320 kilometres per hour, bringing HS2 in line with comparable services across Europe and Japan. The government says the reduction could save up to £2.5bn and shave roughly a year off the delivery schedule.

How HS2 Arrived at This Point

HS2 was first costed in 2013 at £50.1bn in 2011 prices, a figure that translates to roughly £75bn in today’s money. That original plan also included extensions to Manchester and Leeds, both of which were subsequently cancelled. The project now covers only the London to Birmingham corridor. Mark Wild, chief executive of HS2 Ltd, acknowledged the reset would be unwelcome for communities and taxpayers along the route. He argued, however, that the move was the only credible path to regaining control, and pointed to improved productivity milestones over the past year.

Government Draws Line Under Cancellation Option

Alexander argued directly against scrapping the project, telling MPs that abandoning HS2 would cost nearly as much as finishing it, while delivering none of the transport benefits. Shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew accepted the early years of the project had been poorly managed, with HS2 Ltd losing budget control and the Department for Transport failing to intervene.

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