Opening of HS2 line set to be delayed beyond 2033

The opening of HS2 will be delayed beyond the target date of 2033, the BBC understands.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to tell Parliament on Wednesday that there is “no reasonable way to deliver” the railway line on schedule and within budget – but is not expected to say when the route will finally start operating.

She is set to outline the findings of two reviews into HS2, one of which points to a “litany of failure” leading to missed deadlines and ballooning costs.

It is the latest setback for the high-speed rail project, which has been scaled back and delayed repeatedly.

Alexander is expected to say that Conservative governments presided over the cost of HS2 rising by £37bn between 2012, when the line was first approved, and the general election last year.

She is set to release two reports into HS2 in a bid to “draw a line in the sand” and mark a government reset in how major infrastructure is delivered.

One will detail the findings of a review conducted by the former chief executive of Crossrail, James Stewart, which was commissioned last year to “investigate the oversight of major transport infrastructure projects”.

It will set out what has gone wrong with HS2 to date and what ministers can learn for future projects.

A second review by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 who was put in place as part of efforts to get control of rising costs in October last year, will assess the construction of the project’s phase from London to Birmingham.

Alexander is also expected to announce the appointment of Mike Brown, the former commissioner of Transport for London, to become the new chair of HS2 Ltd.

Under the original plans, HS2 was intended to create high-speed rail links between London and major cities in the Midlands and North of England.

It was designed to cut journey times and expand capacity on the railways, but has faced myriad challenges and soaring costs in the 16 years since it was first proposed.

The massive construction project was given the green light in 2012, and was expected to cost £33bn and to be open by 2026.

By 2013, the cost of the project had spiralled to almost £50bn, with the expected completion date pushed back to 2033.

In 2020, when Boris Johnson recommitted the government to going ahead with HS2, one independent estimate put the potential eventual cost at £106bn.

In recent years, the scope of the development has been scaled back.

The eastern leg between Birmingham and Leeds was axed first, before Rishi Sunak’s government cancelled the planned Birmingham to Manchester route.

Last year, the Department for Transport said the remaining project cost was estimated at between £45bn and £54bn in 2019 prices – but HS2 management has estimated it could be as high as £57bn.