HS2 Hits the Buffers as Inflation Forces Government to Delay Network’s Crewe and Euston Legs

Campaigners say 'disastrous project' has imploded

Undated image of a graphic representation of the HS2 trains which would run between London and Birmingham. (Hitachi Rail-Alstom/PA)

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has announced that “inflationary pressures” will cause delays to the construction of key parts of the high-speed railway HS2.

In a written ministerial statement, Harper said the Birmingham to Crewe line will be delayed by two years and the final stretch from Old Oak Common in west London to Euston in central London will not be ready until some time in the 2040s.

The priority will be the section from Old Oak Common to Birmingham’s Curzon Street station, but plans for the next part—from England’s second city north to the key railway junction town of Crewe—has been delayed.

Harper said: “The government is committed to delivering HS2 Phase 2a between Birmingham and Crewe. We have seen significant inflationary pressure and increased project costs, and so we will rephase construction by two years, with an aim to deliver high-speed services to Crewe and the North West as soon as possible after accounting for the delay in construction.”

The original plan was for HS2 to reach Crewe by 2030 or 2034 at the latest, boosting transport in the north of England.

But Harper said he has been forced to prioritise the initial London to Birmingham section.

There has also been a major hitch with the final stretch of the line, bringing HS2 into the heart of the capital.

Station Redesign Required for Euston

In October, New Civil Engineer reported that the Department for Transport was admitting “significant elements” of the initial design for a station at Euston could no longer be used and the number of platforms would have to be reduced from 11 to 10.

A couple walk past HS2's construction site at Euston in central London on Jan. 27. 2023. (PA)

On Friday, Harper said: “We remain committed to delivering HS2 services to Euston, and will address affordability pressures to ensure the overall spending profile is manageable. We will therefore take the time to ensure we have an affordable and deliverable station design, delivering Euston alongside high-speed infrastructure to Manchester.”

That means that, when the first part of HS2 is completed, passengers arriving in central London—for example on Eurostar trains from Europe—and wanting to travel on to Birmingham will have to take the Elizabeth Line to Old Oak Common in west London to board HS2.

But Harper remained upbeat about the project, which has had more than its fair share of critics since it was first announced by then-Prime Minister David Cameron back in 2013.

Harper said, “HS2 is making good progress, and we have already spent over £20 billion delivering Phase One between London and the West Midlands, supporting 2,500 businesses and creating over 29,000 jobs.”

Critics of HS2 have said it would cause huge environmental impact and presented terrible value for money when it would only be able to reduce the travelling from London to Birmingham by 29 minutes.

‘Comedic Implosion’

After Harper’s statement, the founder of the campaign group Stop HS2, Joe Rukin, said, “The statement from the government about the latest cutbacks to HS2 marks a further comedic implosion of this disastrous project—it would be hilarious if it weren’t so predictably tragic.”

Rukin said, “They have had 13 years and six attempts to get the design of Euston right, but now they say they will ‘take the time’ to get it right, completely ignoring what we have said from the start, that the station they want to build cannot possibly fit into the space they have got.”

HS2’s budget was initially set at £55.7 billion in 2015, but that has risen to £71 billion.

An HS2 construction worker walks past the Euston station site in central London on Jan. 27, 2023. (PA)

The Confederation of British Industry’s policy unit programme director, John Foster, said, “Delays to projects may create short-term savings, but they can ultimately lead to higher overall costs and slow down the UK’s transition to a better, faster, and greener transport network.”

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the north of England is “yet again being asked to pay the price for staggering Conservative failure.”

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the rephasing of HS2 is a “great disappointment” and London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it is not viable to have trains ferrying passengers from Old Oak Common to central London for a long period.

He said, “Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent regenerating the Euston area, and homes and businesses have been demolished to make way for HS2, causing huge disruption for zero reward.”

But Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, asked about HS2 when he appeared on Times Radio on Friday, said people need to be “realistic” about the project.

He said it is the biggest investment in rail “since the Victorian era” and said, “So we’re doing huge amounts with regards to rail travel but we have got to be realistic when we have a significant economic impact through COVID, we have to respond to that.”

PA Media contributed to this report.