HS2 delays link to West Coast Mainline for four more years

Work to connect the HS2 high-speed rail project to the West Coast Mainline is set to be delayed for a further four years, the megaproject has announced.

It comes after its new chief executive Mark Wild, the former head of Crossrail, announced earlier this year that he was conducting a “reset” of the project that will see funding focus on completing the stretch between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street.

The 29-kilometre stretch of line between Birmingham and Handsacre in Staffordshire was originally halted in early 2023 to reduce costs. It is being constructed by the Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV) joint venture (JV), and is part of phase one of HS2.

HS2 Ltd said despite the deferral some essential works will still continue, including the realignment of the A38 and the completion of the A5 bridge over the new railway.

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “Mark Wild has been clear that HS2 faces serious cost and schedule challenges. We are resetting the project to get it back on track and address the mistakes of the past.

“To support the reset, we are extending an existing deferral on works between Birmingham and Handsacre, where the new railway links with the west coast mainline. This will prioritise efforts and resources on the opening section of HS2 between Old Oak Common and Birmingham – getting the construction programme back in the right order.

“We remain fully committed to completing the stretch north of Birmingham and some essential construction in this area will continue. But this pause will mean that the benefits of HS2 are felt by passengers and businesses as quickly as possible while protecting the use of taxpayers’ money.”

Construction News also asked the client how long the delay would last and how much extra cost it would add.

Earlier this month, Alan Morris, HS2’s director of construction delivery, told CN that the phase one northern main works civils contracts, held by the BBV and Eiffage Kier Ferrovial Bam Nuttall (EKFB) JVs, are now its main focus for reset negotiations.

“Basically, the two northern contracts, BBV and EKFB, are the most critical ones” for renegotiation and rebaselining, he said.

“Those are the ones that are our highest priority for us to ensure the programme is achievable.”

The BBV JV oversees civil engineering for the 90km West Midlands stretch of the high-speed line.

Last week head of the Public Accounts Committee Geoffrey Clifton-Brown branded HS2 a “disaster” and described ongoing uncertainty over its cost as “unacceptable”.

When HS2 was approved in 2012 it was expected to cost £33bn. Since then, the Manchester and Leeds legs of the scheme have been scrapped, yet even the cost of the heavily truncated project – now only running from London to Birmingham – is forecast to exceed its original estimate.

Earlier this year, Wild began a comprehensive reset of the programme after noting that HS2 Ltd had “failed in its mission to control costs and deliver to schedule”.