True cash cost of HS2 to date tops £40bn

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander, who has resumed 6-month progress stories to MPs, gave the primary spending replace on the mega challenge at nominal or money phrases, slightly than benchmark 2019 costs beforehand most popular by the Authorities.

Over £37.9bn has already spent on Part One of many the troubled megaproject between London and Birmingham.

That features £26.4bn on civils, £3.6bn on land, £2.3bn on stations and £2bn on methods.

An additional £2.6bn has been spent on the cancelled legs north of Birmingham, bringing complete value up to now to £40.5bn.

She confirmed 70% of the 32 miles of tunnels between London and Birmingham have now been bored.

However rather more has nonetheless to be delivered. Main civil works are underway on 44 viaducts, 126 bridges, 75 embankments and 60 cuttings, whereas tunnelling machines are actually being assembled at Outdated Oak Frequent forward of the ultimate tunnelling push to Euston, resulting from begin subsequent Spring.

She added HS2 had been stricken by delays, inflated prices, poor governance and weak provide chain efficiency.

New CEO Mark Wild will set out his full reset plan to get the scheme again below management subsequent Spring.

“To validate this new estimate, there’s additionally work underway to confirm the civils work delivered up to now and its value.

“This can permit the programme to validate true supply prices in opposition to the unique estimates. This data, mixed with continued funding in collating benchmarking information from worldwide comparators, will give us a extra dependable ‘ought to value’ mannequin for the rest of the programme,” she informed Parliament.

A brand new £25.3bn spending bundle has been agreed to maintain work going between 2026 and 2030.

The federal government has rebooted plans to construct the HS2 station at Euston with a brand new supply firm and a push to faucet non-public finance to lastly get the long-delayed London terminus transferring.

A brand new Euston Supply Firm will take over the challenge from HS2 Ltd and oversee growth of your entire station campus, together with the high-speed platforms, a rebuilt Community Rail station and upgraded Tube hyperlinks.

The federal government stated design work at Euston would restart later this 12 months.

Ministers confirmed they’re exploring a funding bundle that features non-public capital, land sale receipts, and attainable native contributions resembling tax increment financing. Specialist advisers have been appointed to construction the deal.