HS2 ‘is now due to arrive in central London in 2041’ and delay could increase costs and cause job losses, leaked document says
- The leaked document was produced by HS2 CEO Alan Over.
- It warns that a delay until 2041 could cause job losses and the collapse of companies
Delaying HS2 will increase costs rather than reduce them, and trains may not reach central London until 2041, a leaked document says.
The official document, produced by HS2 CEO Alan Over, also seems to warn that the delay could lead to job losses and the collapse of companies.
He says ‘additional costs will be created by deferring program spending’ and admits there will be ‘some impacts on jobs’.
Ministers said last week they were delaying the handover of the Birmingham to Crewe section of HS2, known as phase 2a, by two years. This means that the project may not open until 2036.
Transportation Secretary Mark Harper said the delay was necessary to “balance the nation’s books.”
The official document, produced by HS2 CEO Alan Over, also seems to warn that the delay could lead to job losses and the collapse of companies.
In the question-and-answer format of the leaked document, it asks: “What will the government do about construction companies that go bankrupt because of this announcement?”
The document states that the companies will have to “work through the contractual consequences of this announcement.”
He also refuses to rule out scrapping more of the high-speed rail project, without ensuring trains reach Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield.
The document, which Labor obtained and referred to during a Commons debate yesterday, also suggests that the section from Crewe to Manchester, phase 2b, will not be completed until 2041.
The newspaper raised the possibility that the trains would not reach central London until the same year, traveling only as far as Old Oak Common in north-west London until then.
Labor used the leaked document yesterday to launch the attack on Parliament.
Blooming in the Despatch Box after an urgent question was tabled in the House of Commons, Labor Party transport spokeswoman Louise Haigh said: “His (the Transport Secretary’s) main justification for the delays on HS2 was to balance the nation’s books, but here his own department admits what it won’t do: that the delay itself will increase costs.
They admit that it will cost jobs, that construction companies could go out of business. They cannot rule out the total reduction of high speed trains serving Stoke, Macclesfield and Stafford… This damaging leak shatters their key claims of saving taxpayers’ money.
But the railway minister, Huw Merriman, responded: “Obviously we do not comment on the leaked documents or certainly on the documents that have not been given to me at all.”
“It’s a fully responsible government approach to balance the commitments we make and the transport commitments totaling £40bn that have been tabled in the House.”
Merriman said the government was also facing spending pressures because of its energy bill support package.
He added: ‘I’m very proud of what we’re doing when it comes to delivering HS2.’
Last week’s announcement was the latest setback for Britain’s biggest-ever infrastructure project, which has been plagued by delays and spiraling costs since it was announced.
A budget of £55.7bn was set in 2015 for the entire project.
But the target cost has ballooned to £71bn, excluding the eastern span which was removed in 2021, and the project has been dogged by criticism over its finances. The eastern section would have taken trains from Birmingham to Leeds and brought the cost of the project to more than £100 billion.