Ministers tell HS2 to consider slower train speeds to cut costs | HS2
Ministers have told High Speed Two to consider running its trains at lower speeds in a bid to rein in the rising budget and start operations as soon as possible.
HS2 Ltd will consider whether limiting speeds to 186mph (300km/h) rather than 224mph (300km/h) could save money (potentially billions of pounds) and bring the railway live by the early 2030s.
While most high-speed trains in the UK operate at a maximum speed of 195 miles per hour, high-speed trains to the Kent and Channel tunnel using the HS1 line operate at speeds of up to 206 mph, the typical European maximum speed.
In her update to parliament, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the “scale of the challenge has become even clearer” after HS2 chief executive Mark Wild gave initial findings for a planned “reset” of the high-speed rail scheme’s timeline and budget.
He said Wild’s work so far shows that HS2 Ltd “does not have an accurate assessment of how much work has been delivered or how much work remains to be done”. “It is now clear that previous plans significantly underestimated the work required.”
Wild, who takes over as chief executive of HS2 Ltd in late 2024, is understood to have submitted an initial review of costs and a proposed new work program to the Department for Transport.
But Alexander said he had appointed Wild to report on possible savings from slower trains before the summer break.
He said no railways in the UK were currently designed for speeds of 360km/h, adding: “This means the project will have to wait for the HS2 tracks to be built before testing any trains, an approach that could increase costs and delay completion of the project. The alternative would have been to send trains abroad for testing.”
Alexander praised Wild’s leadership and said HS2 was now “up and running”, meeting construction milestones including completing the excavation of all 23 miles of deep tunnels required for the opening phase of the railway.
The government hopes to reduce prices before publishing its full reset plan, including a general budget re-set at 2026 prices. The figure is expected to exceed £100bn after inflation rose for several years during Covid, with labor and steel costs rising sharply.
The six-month update revealed total spend to date at current prices was £46.2bn; Including the £2.6bn spent on the northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, which was canceled by Rishi Sunak in 2024.
Government sources said the speed of the trains and the associated costs showed the “gold-plated” and “unnecessarily exaggerated” design for the world’s fastest railway drawn up by the previous Conservative government.
Wild said: “I made a promise to the transport secretary that I would regain control of HS2 and put an end to the project’s cost overruns and delays.
“With performance heading in the right direction, supported by the hard work of 30,000 people in the field, we are rightly exploring options to create greater efficiency.
“Speed has never been the primary objective. This railway will deliver better journeys, more capacity on the network and economic growth, all of which are vital to the future prosperity of the country.”
