UK ministers push HS2 to test slower speeds to cut costs
UK ministers push HS2 to test slower speeds to cut costs
Ministers urge HS2 to consider lowering speeds from 224mph to 186mph to save billions and bring the project forward.
Ministers have told High Speed Two to consider running trains at lower speeds, in an attempt to rein in the spiralling budget and begin operations as soon as possible. HS2 Ltd will assess whether limiting the speed to 186 mph (300 km/h) instead of 224 mph could save money – potentially billions of pounds – and bring the railway into being earlier in the 2030s. Most fast trains in the UK run at a maximum of 125 mph, while high-speed trains to Kent and the Channel tunnel using the HS1 line run at up to 186 mph, the typical European maximum.
In an update to parliament, the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said that since the HS2 chief executive, Mark Wild, gave his initial findings for a planned “reset” of the high-speed rail scheme’s timeline and budget, “the scale of the challenge has become even clearer”. She said Wild’s work so far showed that HS2 Ltd “did not have an accurate assessment of how much work had been delivered, or of how much was left to do. It is now clear that previous plans significantly underestimated the work required.” Wild, who took over as the chief executive of HS2 Ltd in late 2024, is understood to have delivered a first review of costs and a new proposed work schedule to the Department for Transport. Alexander said she had now commissioned Wild to report back before summer recess on the possible savings from slower trains. She said no railway in the UK was engineered for 360 km/h, adding: “This means that the project would have to wait for HS2 tracks to be built before testing any trains – an approach which could increase costs and delay the completion of the project. The alternative would have been to send trains abroad to test.” Alexander praised Wild’s leadership and said HS2 was now “working”, meeting construction milestones including completing excavation of all 23 miles of deep tunnels needed for the opening stage of the project. The update also touches on the broader London to Birmingham railway line as a cheaper-to-deliver option.
