'No clear end in sight' to HS2 delays and rising costs
The high speed rail line is supposed to reach Birmingham by the end of the decade
A group of MPs is waring that there is 'no end in sight' to delays and rising costs for the HS2 rail project, which is due to link London to the West Midlands by the end of the decade.
Members of the influential Public Accounts Committed have hit out at a lack of transparency from the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd.
Committee members say they're 'increasingly alarmed' about key elements of the programme, particularly a lack of progress at London's Euston Station, which is supposed to be the starting point of the line.
Phase One of the project is due to connect the capital with Birmingham's Curzon Street, which is undergoing extensive redevelopment.
The current estimated cost of completing the project is currently projected to be between £72-98bn, up from an estimate of £55.7bn in 2015.
The Committee says there's been little progress on the design or delivery of Euston station over the past few years. It's redevelopment is expected to cost around £2.6bn.
Without Euston, HS2 will terminate at Old Oak Common on the outskirts of London.
MPs also want more clarity around Phase 2 of the project, which extends the line into Northern England.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee, said:
“HS2 is already one of the single most-expensive taxpayer-funded programmes in the UK but there’s actually no clear end in sight in terms of the final cost, or even the final route.
"The project was plagued by a lack of planning and transparency from the start and there are many difficulties ahead.
“This project cannot simply keep sinking more taxpayer funds without greater clarity on the later phases.
"The development of Euston is a real challenge that must be resolved swiftly now.”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Deputy Chair of Committee, said
"For the first time, HS2 limited has given us estimated costs and delivery times for each section of Phase 1.
"However, they have given us an estimate of £2.6 billion cost for the redevelopment of Euston station, which may or may not be realistic, but they have not given us a date by which Euston will be integrated into the rest of Phase 1 and indeed this Phase will initially open at Old Oak Common.
"If Euston does not come on stream fairly soon after this the major cost benefits of Phase 1 will be curtailed.
"The overall cost of Phase 1 is £35billion with a £10 billion contingency, which would appear to be achievable.
"However, plans are not yet complete as to how Phase 1 will be integrated into Phase 2, and the costs of Phase 2a and 2b are far less certain. "
Therefore, the total wide estimate of building the entire railway is far less certain, between £72 to £98 billion, and could well exceed even that."