5 hours Ago By Evening Standard
The high speed line will go to , Transport Secretary signalled on Tuesday. She said an announcement would be made soon, expected at the October 30 Budget. There had been speculation that HS2 running from Birmingham could stop at in west rather than Euston being the terminal given the soaring cost.
Pressed whether it was affordable for the high speed line to run to Euston, Ms Haigh told Times Radio: “It would never have made sense to leave it between Old Oak Common and Birmingham. “Euston was always planned to be part of the picture for HS2. We are hoping to make an announcement on that very soon.
” She also stressed that the decision to turn off the huge advertising boards at Euston had proved “popular”. Rail chiefs have come under fire for the state of the major rail terminal. “I asked to make those changes because the passenger experience was clearly not good enough there and they made the decision to temporarily turn off the advertising boards which has been very popular with customers,” explained Ms Haigh.
” amid the uncertainty over the huge infrastructure project. as costs soared. When the expected bill for the rail project in the capital jumped to nearly £5 billion and passengers forced to continue their journey into Euston via the Elizabeth Line.
But now new Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to sign off the link running to north London despite the multi-billion pound price tag. It is not yet clear how the line to Euston will be funded, with the previous Tory administration having sought to do so with private finance. John Dickie, chief executive of London business group BusinessLDN, recently wrote to rail minister Lord Hendy stressing that not completing the project would risk the area losing £41billion in economic output and thousands of new homes.
He emphasised: “The design of the tunnels has been agreed and tunnel boring machines contracted, with one already on site and the second expected soon...
Given costs already incurred, and with existing infrastructure and site teams in place, there will never be a cheaper time to build this tunnel than now. “If the decision is further delayed it would lead to significant remobilisation costs. “Failure to complete this section would further curtail North-South capacity and reduce the future value of HS2 as a key national infrastructure asset.
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