‘Ridiculous’ HS2 cutbacks could mean journeys into central London take longer than now, Sadiq Khan warns
Cutbacks to HS2 could leave passengers facing longer journeys into central London than they do at the moment, Sadiq Khan has warned.
It comes amid reports the Government will confirm it is axing the high-speed rail project north of Birmingham due to spiralling costs.
Earlier this year, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “paused” plans to rebuild Euston for HS2 and said it would begin at Old Oak Common on the outskirts of west London instead. The link to Euston is now expected to be put on ice, with officials arguing passengers can change to other services to head further into the capital.
But the city’s mayor says the changes could mean HS2 ends up as a “colossal waste of money” that fails to improve journey times at all.
HS2 trains are not expected to run to Euston until 2041 at the earliest and, with ministers concerned about the cost of the project, there are doubts the scheme will ever go ahead.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Labour mayor for London Mr Khan said: “Terminating the service at Old Oak Common would be a short-sighted decision which will have long-term implications, significantly downgrading the value of HS2 as a high-speed connection and leaving a ridiculous situation where a ‘high speed’ journey between Birmingham and central London could take as long as the existing route, if not longer.”
He said the “best case” journey time of one hour and 22 minutes from Birmingham to Euston, changing at Old Oak Common onto the Elizabeth Line and Northern Line, was “already one minute longer than the existing train time”.
Mr Khan told the Prime Minister: “The public would rightly be dismayed were all of this time and money spent on a line that took longer to reach central London than the existing route, and was devoid of any proper connections to the north of England.”
A Government spokesman said: “The HS2 project is already well under way with spades in the ground, and our focus remains on delivering it.”
