HS2’s costs have risen by another £800m, the government has admitted, barely a month after the official start of construction of the high-speed rail network.
The reshaping of Euston station is likely to cost at least £400m more than planned, while the discovery of more asbestos than expected in demolitions along the line of the route has added around another £400m.
In the first of the bi-annual updates pledged since the entire HS2 project was given a fresh go-ahead by the current government in February, the minister for HS2, Andrew Stephenson, said there were new “cost pressures” emerging.
He said more work was needed to check the Euston costs, which could be cut but had the potential to rise further.
However, Stephenson said that the spiralling budget for Euston and the preparatory works would be accounted for within the £5.3bn contingency that had been delegated for HS2 Ltd, keeping the first phase of works, from London to Birmingham, within an overall £44.6bn budget.
Just over 20% of that sum has now been spent, and another £11.5bn allotted in contracts, most of which were given notice to proceed during lockdown.