Parts of High Speed 2 (HS2) delayed by two years

The British government announced on Thursday afternoon that the construction of phases 2a and 2b of the High Speed 2 project will be delayed by two years due to inflation and rising construction costs.

Phase 2a is scheduled to stretch from Birmingham to Crewe and phase 2b from Crewe to Manchester.

It is so far expected that the first trains of HS2 will carry passengers between 2029 and 2033 on the London-Birmingham line.

The Birmingham-Crewe part was originally scheduled to be delivered between 2030 and 2034, and is now being pushed back to 2032-2036, while the extension to Manchester is now expected to be delivered in the 2040s.

It was also announced that Euston Station in Central London is expected to be delayed until an affordable and deliverable station design is ensured.

The project’s budget was an estimated of £33 billion in 2010, which rose to £55.7 billion in 2015 and then rose again to  £71 billion in 2019.

It is also worth mentioning that a large part of an extra route to Leeds was cancelled in 2021.