Planning the journey

4 Jul 2013 By Ian Campbell

The HS2 high-speed rail project is under fire as cost estimates mount. But that is not the only problem with this massive project. A financial commitment now would pre-empt the 2015 report on airport strategy. Better to wait and not box the country into keeping the Heathrow hub.

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The budget for the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project has increased by almost 10 billion pounds because of the addition of a tunnel to plans, Patrick McLoughlin, the UK’s transport secretary, said on June 26. McLoughlin told MPs that the new projected cost of the railline linking London to the Midlands in central England had risen to 42.6 billion pounds from the original estimate of 33 billion pounds and included a contingency fund.
The Department for Transport said the first phase of the project would now cost 21.4 billion pounds with the second phase coming in at 21.2 billion pounds. This includes a 12.7 billion pounds contingency fund across the project.

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