The UK government has admitted it is unable to determine the total cost of the HS2 rail project. The Department for Transport revealed it lacks a definitive cost estimate for the first phase, citing the complexity of the project.
The Government admitted it does not know how much the HS2 rail project will cost in total. The top civil servant at the Department for Transport , Dame Bernadette Kelly, told the Commons Public Accounts Committee that they do not have an 'agreed cost estimate' for the first phase of the project between London and Birmingham. HS2 Ltd has provided a cost estimate of £54-66 billion, but Dame Bernadette said the department does not 'regard it as a reliable and agreed cost estimate'.
She added that coming up with an agreed cost estimate would be 'extremely complex' and would not be done until 'well into 2025'. Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown summed up the evidence session by saying: 'We don’t know when the reset is going to take place, we don’t know what the cost is going to be, and we don’t know when it is likely to come into operation.' The high-speed line was originally planned to reach Manchester, but the second phase of the scheme was cancelled last year by the Conservative government. The plan was to build a new station at Manchester Airport, with HS2 trains continuing on to a new station at Manchester Piccadilly. HS2 to Manchester was supposed to ease the burden on the West Coast Main Line to London and local services. But the then Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, scrapped the link, saying the 'facts' had changed. MPs also heard that alternatives to the northern leg of HS2 will only 'delay' projected capacity problems on the railways, not resolve them. Alan Over, who is responsible for the HS2 programme at the Department for Transport, said there 'aren’t easy alternatives' to building more infrastructure as the West Coast Mainline is forecast to reach its capacity by the late 2030s
HS2 RAIL COST GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
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