{"id":432480,"date":"2026-05-19T23:32:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=193597"},"modified":"2026-05-19T23:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:32:48","slug":"transport-secretary-promises-end-to-era-of-neglect-on-hs2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=432480","title":{"rendered":"Transport Secretary promises end to \u201cera of neglect\u201d on HS2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, has declared an end to an \u201cera of neglect\u201d on HS2 as she set out plans to reset the project, delivering the railway as quickly as possible and at the lowest reasonable cost.<\/p>\n

Following years of mismanagement, the Transport Secretary has convened the team that delivered the Elizabeth Line and set out new costs and timeframes for the project, including efforts to cut construction costs and get passengers on trains sooner.<\/p>\n

The Government announced today (Tuesday 19 May) the project is now expected to cost between \u00a387.7 and \u00a3102.7 billion, with two thirds of the increase due to works being missed from the scope of the original project plan, underestimation by previous Governments, inefficient delivery \u2013 and the remaining third due to inflation.<\/p>\n

The Government has also confirmed HS2 will run at 320km\/h (200mph), aligning with speeds across Europe and Japanese bullet trains. In previous plans, HS2 trains were set to run at 360km\/h (225mph) but with no existing track to test trains at that speed in Great Britain, adding to spiralling costs and build time.<\/p>\n

The change in speed could deliver savings of up to \u00a32.5 billion and at least a year in delivery time, so communities can start to benefit sooner.<\/p>\n

The first trains are now expected to start between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street between 2036 and 2039. An estimate of the full scheme from London Euston to Curzon Street and a connection to the West Coast Main Line, is between 2040 and 2043.<\/p>\n

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: \u201cTaxpayers, passengers and communities along the route have been let down by years of mismanagement on HS2.<\/p>\n

\u201cI share their anger about the waste and mess, but I am proud that this Government has worked with HS2\u2019s new senior team to get this project off life support and on the road to recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will get the job done but we will also take every opportunity to save time and money in the process, getting a grip on delivery, controlling costs, and stripping out the complexity that\u2019s plagued the project in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can and must build big infrastructure projects in Britain. But we also need competent people in charge of them. This is the same team that delivered the Elizabeth Line. We have done it before, we will do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild\u2019s ongoing reset has already borne fruit \u2013 with six major construction milestones reached earlier than planned in the last year \u2013 as well as eliminating 300 bureaucratic roles, and scrutinising contracts to ensure taxpayers get value for money.<\/p>\n

In response to today’s announcement he said: \u201cI recognise this will be unwelcome news for local communities and taxpayers, and I share in their disappointment that it will take longer and cost more to bring HS2 into service.<\/p>\n

\u201cResetting HS2 was the only way to regain control of the project. We have turned a corner in the last 12 months with significantly improved levels of productivity, helping us to deliver major milestones ahead of schedule. We’re also progressing with plans to bring HS2 into line with other high-speed railways in Europe – further reducing the project’s complexity without compromising on benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter journeys, more capacity on the network, and economic growth are all vital to the country\u2019s future prosperity, and that\u2019s exactly what we will deliver. Driven by the hard work of 31,000 people on the ground, HS2 is finally getting back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image credit: HS2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, has declared an end to an \u201cera of neglect\u201d on HS2 as she set out plans to reset the project, delivering the railway as quickly as possible and at the lowest reasonable cost. Following years of mismanagement, the Transport Secretary has convened the team that delivered the Elizabeth Line and set [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1633,53,1089,16017,16220,47,16148,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-high-speed-rail","category-hs2","category-industry-news","category-rail-business","category-rail-news","category-rail-projects","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=432480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432481,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432480\/revisions\/432481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=432480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=432480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=432480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}