HS2 Trains can now run slower than expected when the railway line eventually opens to cut the spilling cost.
Mark Wild, Chief Executive Officer Government owned by HS2 Limited, Said The flagship high-speed rail project, now predicting £ 100 billion, can open on “low running speed” to save money.
He said that “day-one railway needs to be simplified to reduce the remaining delay and reduce the cost after the remainder” London To Birmingham Rail line stretch 2033 will be delayed beyond its target opening date,
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said after reducing the management of the project under the previous Tory government, which he said that “was not less than a litni of failure”.
He told Commons on Wednesday that “billions of pounds of taxpayers were ruined by constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and poor management”, as he said that the cost had increased from £ 37BN amid its approval in 2012 and last year’s general elections.
The basic design of the 330-mile Y-shaped network was due to connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, it is expected that the top-speed trains of 248Mph can connect London to Manchester in just one hour.
But as the scope of the project has been constantly cut by governments over time, the train speed between London and Birmingham was cut by 225 mph. Now, it can further fall to 200 mph when the line eventually opens.
Mr. Wilde, who held the office in December, wrote in a letter to Ms. Alexander: “I am looking at all the available levars (for example, protecting the long -term agility to give full benefits, removing automated train operations, slightly low to remove automated train operations).
“This staged approach will reduce the risk, improve reliability, allow for more certainty around the cost, reduce the delay in the opening of the railway and enable the incremental construction of the service,” he wrote.
The project was originally due to the cost of £ 32.7BN (in 2011 prices) with the first phase between London and Midland in late 2026.
As Ms. Alexander told Commons that HS2 will no longer open in 2033, Prime Minister Has assigned Cabinet secretary It was investigated whether civil servants and other public bodies should face their roles investigations in delay.
The initial plan for HS2 was to build the first phase, connecting London to Birmingham, for Manchester and Leeds with two branches. However, the conservative government removed the leg for leads in 2021.
Independent It was the first to reveal The sage Sunak was pulling the plug The remaining second phase between Birmingham to Manchester in 2023.
Chhaya Transport Secretary Gareth Beckon accepted mismanagement on behalf of his party.
He said that cutting the northern legs was “a product of mistakes made in HS2’s handling” and “We should learn from those mistakes and we should not repeat them”.
