Transport secretary Heidi Alexander and Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledge to get project ‘on track’ but no opening until after 2033
In this aerial view the HS2 Curzon Street rail station takes shape as construction continues in Birmingham(Image: Getty Images)
High Speed 2 is an “appalling mess” and there might not be any trains running on the line between Birmingham and the edge of London for another decade.
But tonight, Wednesday, June 18, chancellor Rachel Reeves, speaking exclusively to BirminghamLive, assured Brummies and would-be investors that her Government was ‘committed’ to completing the line as planned and to ‘get it back on track’.
The startling reality check about the troubled project was unveiled earlier today as two damning reports were published into the future of HS2.
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Transport secretary Heidi Alexander described the rail project and its management as “no less than a litany of failure”. She told the House of Commons that “billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted by constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and bad management”.
She also confirmed trains would not begin running on the line in 2033 as planned – and that was already seven years later than the promised opening date of 2026. Analysts believe it will be 2035 before passenger trains run.
Heidi Alexander, Transport Secretary, delivers her HS2 ‘reality check’ in the Commons(Image: PA)
She said: “We’ve made clear to the new chief executive of HS2, Mark Wild, that the priority is building the rest of the railway safely at the lowest reasonable cost, even if this takes longer.”
She had earlier published an initial review of the project by Mr Wild, who was appointed in December. In it he stated “in no uncertain terms the overall project, with respect to cost, schedule and scope, is unsustainable,” said Alexander.
In a phone call with BirminghamLive, Reeves said money had been committed to HS2 in the spending review but the outcome of the full probe by Mr Wild highlighted the extent of the issues facing the project. She said: “Some of the things he’s uncovered really are shocking.
“We want to deliver a better transport infrastructure (for the West Midlands and the country), with projects that are actually going to succeed and that we’re getting good value for money.
“We now need to get a grip of HS2.” She said the review had found ‘ineffective oversight, poor reporting and years of mismanagement typical of the previous (Conservative) government’ and the focus now was on getting on track.
In this aerial view the HS2 Curzon No.2 Viaduct takes shape as construction continues on June 18, 2025 in Birmingham, England. The Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, announces a two-year delay to the HS2 project, accusing the previous government of a “litany of failures”. (Image: Getty Images)
Hailed as the great ‘levelling upper’ for the Midlands and the North that was going to lure in investors and pull in jobs and opportunities galore, the HS2 project has been exposed as a laughing stock, with a litany of failures. Plans to run it to Manchester and Leeds, and onwards to Scotland, with an eastern link to Nottingham, have long been abandoned.
Alexander confirmed trains would not begin running on the truncated line in 2033 and was unable to provide a new date.
Timeline to HS2 – the line to nowhere
Anyone remember when HS2 was going to be the jewel in the crown of a super whizzy transport infrastructure with Birmingham at its heart? First flagged in 2009 and finally given the green light in 2012, the first phase of the scheme between London and Birmingham was going to cost a paltry £32.7 billion.
It was meant to be open by next year, 2026, and was to be the catalyst for the region’s growth and prosperity, drawing in businesses and suppliers that would put the West Midlands on the map.
That initial sum has been spent, no track has yet been laid, and no new high speed trains have yet been built. The mere promise of it has been enough to attract significant investment.
Some firms who acted on the planned finish date could rightly feel they have been duped, though sources tell us those already committed to the region had ‘factored in’ more delays.
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At the helm of HS2 Ltd, the company running the project, is now Mark Wild. He took over last year, replacing Mark Thurston, who had been CEO for nearly seven years until he resigned in 2023. Thurston’s tenure coincided with the chaotic period exposed in the recent reviews. He is now CEO of Anglian Water.
Thurston earned £652,569 over his final year, including a £34,345 bonus, and described his leadership of the HS2 project as ‘the highlight of my career’ when he quit.
February 2017: After three years of scrutiny, the HS2 Bill becomes law and prepartory work starts. Mark Thurston is appointed chief executive.
July 2017: HS2 Ltd admits making £1.8m of unauthorised redundancy payments to staff, which it calls a “serious error”.
2019: Boris Johnson promises a review of HS2 on the campaign trail. He becomes prime minister. A report by HS2 chair, Allan Cook, indicates the line may cost £88bn and not be ready until 2040. It is later estimated to end up costing up to £98bn for the whole line.
September 2020: A ceremony marks the start of construction work after contracts to build the first phase of the line were signed during the Covid lockdown.
November 2021: The government confirms that the eastern leg from Birmingham to Leeds will be scrapped.
March 2023: Construction of the phase from Birmingham to Crewe is ‘delayed’ and the link from Old Oak Common, six miles from central London, to Euston is put on hold because of soaring costs.
June 2023: It’s now said the line from Birmingham to Old Oak Common will be ready ‘between 2029 and 2033’ and then on to Manchester at some point between 2035 and 2041. Thurston quits as CEO.
October 2023: PM Rishi Sunak triggers fury from West Midlands Tory Mayor Andy Street when he announces he is axing the entire northern half of HS2 at the Tory party conference in Manchester. Sunak blames HS2 Ltd for overruns.
October 2024: The new Labour government says it will fund the line into Euston. It vows to get a grip on the project costs and commissions a review into the delivery failings, with new CEO Mark Wild taking over soon after.
February 2025: HS2 has been a “casebook example of how not to run a major project” according to a government committee.