Ending HS2 at Old Oak Common ‘would never have made sense’ says Louise Haigh

The transport secretary has given her strongest indication yet that HS2 will run to Euston, reversing changes to the project announced by the previous Conservative administration.

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Louise Haigh, transport secretary

Louise Haigh, speaking to Times Radio this morning, said: “Euston was always planned to be part of the picture for HS2 and we are hoping to make an announcement on that very soon”.

Asked if running the line to Euston would be affordable, Haigh said: “It certainly would never have made sense to leave it between Old Oak Common and Birmingham.”

The government is expected to make the announcement at around the time of the Budget on 30 October.

Plans for a new 10-platform station, which would have been the high-speed line’s London terminus, were shelved under the previous Conservative government as part of broader cuts to the scheme on the back of rising costs.

Former transport secretary Mark Harper announced last March that the station would be redesigned to have just six platforms and that the project would not progress until private funding could be found.

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Labour has said it is reviewing the scheme, but has previously indicated that it would also require private funding to move forward with the scheme.

It is unclear whether any such funding has emerged.

The decision to pull the plug on the Euston scheme meant HS2 had to write off £153m in costs on the scheme.

A joint venture of Mace and Dragados had been building the scheme. Mark Reynolds, chief executive of Mace, called the decision to mothball it “absolutely shameful”. Other industry leaders have described it as “baffling” and “bonkers”.