HS2 high speed trains could run slower than initially planned to keep costs down – but it could end up inflating them even further, The i Paper has learned.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has asked HS2 boss Mark Wild to look at whether slower trains could cut costs and delays, as the project has been hit by repeated delays and a ballooning budget.
One factor behind the request is the fact that no railway in the UK is currently engineered to test trains at the line’s original top speed, meaning testing could require costly overseas trials or delays until the line is complete.
But the plan has been described as “laughable” by rail industry experts, six years after construction on HS2 began and with much of the civil engineering work already complete.
Alexander told Parliament that Wild’s “initial and provisional” estimate suggests a “reduced speed” design could save a few billion pounds and bring the railway into service sooner by lowering delivery and testing risks.
Wild and his team will carry out a fresh study which Alexander has requested to see before summer.
William Barter, an independent rail consultant who worked on HS2 Ltd between 2012 and 2019, described the announcement as “quite confused” adding: “There are an awful lot of questions.”
HS2 CEO Mark Wild (right) visits the Old Oak Common station box site alongside Rail Minister Lord Hendy (left) (Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)He told The i Paper: “Starting from where we are now – the alignment [of the railway] is fixed, the big structures are built or very nearly – I’m finding it very difficult to see where there could be any significant savings.”
The government signed a £2bn contract with Hitachi and Alstom to deliver 54 ‘state-of-the-art’ HS2 trains in 2021.
Each will be 200m long with the intention that they will be coupled together to form 400m trains that will have a capacity of 1,100 seats.
The government wants Wild to look at slowing the top speed of the trains from 224 mph to 186 mph which could add around three or four minutes to the journey time between London and Birmingham.
“You’re going to need more trains in the fleet to deliver the same frequency,” said Barter.
“They’re not getting back to where they started soon enough to form the next train.
“You’re probably going to need two or three more trains in the fleet.”
The HS2 Curzon Street rail station takes shape as construction continues on 18 June, 2025 in Birmingham (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Barter said lowering the HS2 train specification would save “not very much,” especially since the design is already advanced and would likely need to be redone.
He said he has “no idea” why Wild and the government are looking at slowing down as an option, suggesting it is likely a political move.
“It is a very popular to say it [HS2] has been designed to be too fast and overspecified. I don’t agree with that but it may be that this is a political nod towards that opinion,” Barter added.
“I can’t see, starting from here, where any serious saving would come from.
“I suspect there are advisers and think tanks niggling at the Secretary of State or even the Prime Minister.”
More than £46bn has already been spent on HS2, including the costs incurred on Phase Two to bring the railway to Manchester and Leeds, which has since been cancelled.
The final cost for Phase One could go beyond £100bn and the original intended start date for 2033 is not going to be met.
Wild has been carrying out a ‘reset’ of the project since his appointment in December 2024. He had intended to work to a new timeline and final cost estimate, agreed with the Department for Transport, by April 2026.
But Labour’s decision to order a new study means yet more uncertainty.
An artist’s impression of an early visualisation of a HS2 train (Photo: PA)Barter’s concerns were echoed by Gareth Dennis, an independent railway engineer and writer who has repeatedly criticised governments over their interference on HS2.
He argued that “no savings” would be made “from reducing speed.”
“You will need more trains, which means you’re having to buy and store more trains. It means you need a higher number of staff to operate the railway. It reduces the released capacity benefit which means you have less benefits on the wider network.
“Any perceived savings to the track system would be lost in design costs of redesigning the route and adding additional maintenance facilities required for ballasted track, including extra sidings and junctions.”
Dennis added: “All of HS2’s current problems are because the government meddled with it. The idea that more government meddling is going to do anything other than increase costs should be considered laughable.
“The way you fix HS2 is by stepping away from it and allowing them to deliver it in scope as it was last set in stone.
“A design freeze is what’s needed. Nothing is cheaper than freezing the design and building against a stable scope you’ve spent billions and two decades developing.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The Transport Secretary has made clear we will look at every opportunity to claw back costs and ensure HS2 delivers for the country.
“Whilst we will wait for Mark Wild to complete his review, his initial estimates show running HS2 trains at speeds in line with other high-speed railways could save billions of pounds.”
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