In October 2023, the Government announced the cancellation of Phase 2 of the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway from the West Midlands to Manchester, as well as a smaller HS2 station in London Euston. Following this announcement, the Department for Transport (DfT) and DfT’s arm’s-length body HS2 Ltd began work to understand the implications for the HS2 programme, including identifying how HS2 Ltd would close down Phase 2, and how DfT would deliver and fund HS2’s Euston station.
The National Audit Office’s (NAO) July 2024 report noted that HS2 remains by any measure an extremely large and complex endeavor despite its reduced size. The report found that closing down Phase 2 will take three years, at an estimated cost of up to £100m. It also found plans for resetting the Euston element were at an early stage, with DfT not yet decided on scope, funding or governance. The report highlighted the need for DfT and HS2 Ltd to reset HS2 successfully in order to avoid the repetition of past failures and to maximise the project’s value.
The Public Accounts Committee has scrutinised the delivery of HS2 since the early days of the project, with its first report on the topic in 2013. The Committee’s February 2024 report found that the scheme now represented very poor value for money following the cancellation of its Northern leg, with the total costs for delivering only Phase 1 significantly outweighing its benefits. It also highlighted failures of governance and oversight over spiraling costs after years of warnings.
Based on the NAO report, the Committee will hear from senior DfT and HS2 Ltd officials on topics including:
- Closing down Phase 2 and management of changes and risks;
- Work to dispose of land and property acquired by DfT; and
- How DfT and HS2 Ltd will deliver value for money from HS2.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.
If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Thursday 05 December 2024.