This afternoon we heard a long-awaited update on HS2 from the government. It came in two parts:

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the House of Commons about:

• A new price tag: up to between £87.7bn and £102.7bn in 2025 prices – in 2011, it was initially estimated to cost £32.7bn
• Previous governments were blamed for a "litany of failure" on HS2, amid years of poor management for soaring costs

• Adjusted opening dates: with trains expected to start running betweenOld Oak Common in west London and Birmingham's Curzon Street station sometime between May 2036 and October 2039
• Lower speeds: With services now expected to run at a maximum speed of 199 mph (320 km/h), instead of at the planned 224 mph (360 km/h)
• If these targets slip again, the current government is likely to end up in the firing line, our international business correspondent writes

Afterwards, the government released the Lovegrove report:

• The document described HS2 Ltd as "misguided" in its role as the company responsible for developing and promoting the line
• It accused the management team of adopting a “fortress mentality," becoming “cheerleaders” for the cause of high-speed rail
• Government was also to blame, according to the report, as it says the civil service "was unable to fully assess" or articulate the commercial and financial risks of the project to ministers

We're closing our live coverage there, but you can find more on this story in our news article.

HS2 began as a project intended to connect lines from London to Leeds.

But as costs built up, the eastern and western legs of the line were scrapped.

the financial projections set out by the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander today show the cost of completing the line between Birmingham and London.

This includes the leg between Old Oak Common in west London to London Euston station - though these services aren't expected to begin until at least 2040, a few years after the line's initial opening between 2036 and 2039.

As a result, HS2 phase one is now estimated to cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn when it is finally complete.

Thirteen years on, more to wait - and pay - before HS2 is completedpublished at 16:50 BST

16:50 BST

Katy Austin
Transport correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Visit any of the vast tunnels, viaducts, or bridges taking shape along the HS2 route, and you will probably be impressed. The engineering achievements are not in doubt.

But the scheme as a whole has come to be seen as an example of how not to do a major infrastructure project. Costs have gone up, the schedule has slipped.

And now, following a “reset” of the project, we’ve had the revelation that the cost of HS2 could exceed £100bn, in 2025 prices.

Remember, that’s the price tag for a much shorter railway than originally planned. The Leeds and Manchester branches were scrapped a few years ago.

Reasons for things going wrong have been identified by successive government-commissioned reviews, the latest of which was published today alongside the transport secretary’s update. For example, a focus on the highest possible speeds, changing objectives and political priorities, and contracts being awarded before the design was mature enough. Plus, costs and risk being badly underestimated.

There’s further delay too. Passengers won’t ride the first trains for at least another decade. They won’t travel all the way to Euston in central London, which is already a building site and has no current design plan, for at least another 14 years.

The transport secretary laid the blame for past failures at the feet of previous governments. But she insisted the new leadership team was turning things around.

HS2’s won’t be cancelled, as that would cost almost as much as finishing it - with none of the benefits. But passengers face a long wait before they see those benefits.

A review into the HS2 rail network, published today, highlights how changing political priorities and an excessive focus on the high-speed concept contributed to the project's failings.

Another "original sin" is that the levels of cost and risk were "very badly underestimated", the report says.

The report also delves into the failings of HS2 Ltd - the company responsible for developing and promoting the network - and how these "flowed through to the Civil Service".

The report sets out 17 recommendations covering everything from how arm's length bodies like HS2 Ltd are set up, to the role government members should play on the boards of companies like HS2 Ltd.

Alex Akhurst
BBC Your Voice

You've been sharing your views on the latest developments over HS2.

Here are some of the voices we have heard so far:

Benn in Birmingham tells us that HS2 is one of the "biggest wastes of money ever. We all know it wouldn’t ever be on time and budget. We don’t want it."

Brian in Cumbria says, "I can’t really believe what I have read. So the public are paying for a high-speed train to only Birmingham which now if it ever runs , it will run half speed? Is this a April fools joke? That works out nearly £1500 per person in the UK."

Brian also asks "the question is can the public afford the government making these gross blunders anymore?"

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the Commons earlier that the cost of completing HS2 will be between £87.7bn and £102.7bn, based on 2025 prices.

This covers the cost of the whole programme stretching from London Euston to Birmingham Curzon Street, as well as the connection to West Coast Main Line at Handsacre Junction.

In a report, published following Alexander's statement, the government says that this range includes the full cost of delivering HS2 to Euston, some of which it intends to fund through private finance and other sources such as tax increment financing.

The report adds that this range includes the cost of both "works to date" and "future works excluding inflation".

However, it remains unclear what proportion of this investment would come from private finance and government spending.

Image source, PA Media

During her speech to the Commons, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild made it "very clear" that cancelling the project could cost as much as finishing the project.

A letter, published by the government today, reveals Wild's cost estimates.

He says the overall cancellation and remediation cost could range from £33bn to £58bn, in 2025 prices, but stresses there are "huge uncertainties" in this estimate.

This compares with the £46.8bn to £61.7bn (as of October 2025) required to complete HS2 "as agreed by government," Mr Wild adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has announced a delay, increased cost and reduced speed of the HS2 high speed rail project.

Here are the key takeaways:

Cost

It is now estimated that it will cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn to complete the high speed rail line.

When the project was approved in 2012, the cost estimate for the entire project, including the since-cancelled Manchester and Leeds legs, was £32.7bn - which works out to about £49.2bn in today's money.

Speed

High Speed 2 is getting a little bit slower, with the trains now reaching a maximum of 199mph (320 km/h), down from the previously planned 224 mph (360 km/h).

For reference, most high-speed trains in the UK currently run at around 125 mph (200 km/h) , while HS1 - the Channel Tunnel Rail Link - reaches speeds of up to 186 mph (300 km/h).

Timeframe

HS2 has once again been delayed, with trains expected to start running between Birmingham and west London's Old Oak Common between 2036 and 2039.

Trains are expected to run to London's Euston at some point between May 2040 and December 2043.

If targets slip again, the current government will likely end up in the firing linepublished at 15:23 BST

15:23 BST

Theo Leggett
International business correspondent

Heidi Alexander described the increase in costs for HS2 and the delays delivering the project as “obscene”.

She was able to do so because, at this stage, it is easy for the government to blame any failures linked to HS2 on previous administrations.

For more than a year, the focus has been on working with the boss of HS2 Ltd, Mark Wild, to come up with a "reset", outlining credible costings and a realistic timeframe for delivery.

Those figures, stark as they are, have now been agreed.

HS2 Ltd will be expected to deliver, and if the targets slip any further the current government is likely to find itself in the firing line.

Image source, PA Media

The Lovegrove report also includes detail on the civil service's involvement with the project.

It says the civil service was "unable to fully assess" or articulate the commercial and financial risks of the project to government ministers.

It says that while the Department for Transport was not responsible for building the railway, it is and was responsible for overseeing HS2 Limited, the company behind the project.

The report says that government oversight of the company "failed". It also goes on to say that the civil service "did not have the required capabilities, in sufficient depth, to consistently discharge its responsibilities with regards to HS2".

It describes HS2 as a project of "national magnitude with unparalleled complexity and scale".

We can now bring you some detail from the Lovegrove report, which was published this afternoon.

The report says that HS2 Ltd - the company responsible for developing and promoting the line - was "misguided" in its role.

The management team and board adopted a “fortress mentality” and became “cheerleaders” for the cause of high-speed rail, "repeatedly believing that they would be 'ushering in a new era'", the report says.

Instead, their role should have been to "deliver a high-speed railway within the scope and cost envelope set by Parliament and government", it adds.

Where this wasn't possible, it should have expressed what additional resources and time were required "accurately and with well-founded evidence and analysis," the report says.

Theo Leggett
International business correspondent

It’s worth remembering that a significant amount of HS2 infrastructure has already been built.

The Colne Valley viaduct for example, is complete – stretching for more than 2 miles across countryside to the west of London.

It’s a truly majestic structure, the longest railway bridge in the UK.

Nearby, the Chiltern Tunnels stretch for 10 miles beneath the Chiltern Hills – their curved and tapered portals carefully designed to minimise noise from trains that will not run through them for another decade at least.

This is what has been achieved since construction formally began in late 2020. It’s also one reason why cancelling the project would itself be an expensive process, especially if land had to be restored to how it was before construction started.

Image source, BBC/Theo Leggett

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent, BBC London

What has happened in Euston in central London has been called an embarrassment and a lesson in how not to do things.

The area has seen hundreds of homes demolished, the most of the whole HS2 project. And the project has ruined lives. Businesses and pubs were also destroyed; it was extremely distressing for those impacted by it.

For the last seven years the area has been blighted by a project with no clear direction. The site cuts the area in half.

The news that it won't now open until 2040 at the earliest will be met with anger, resignation, and despair.

Businesses have already suffered, some have already moved on and this further delay won't help. Plans to redevelop the whole area are yet to see the light of day.

At the moment, locals are living next to a building site and disruption and that looks set to continue for another decade.

We can now bring you a little more detail from a document released by the government after Heidi Alexander's statement in the Commons - this is separate to the Lovegrove report.

The government says the new cost range announced today includes "the whole programme", including the expected cost of delivering HS2 to Euston.

It says it has made "significant progress in developing affordable, integrated plans" for the station, which will include six platforms.

The existing Euston Station will also be redeveloped to deliver a new station concourse.

The government says it intends to fund some of the cost of the Euston programme "through private finance and other sources".

Image source, PA Media

During her Commons statement, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander promised the government will be "building no more bat tunnels on HS2".

There was widespread criticism when the then-chairman of the rail line announced £100m would be spent on protecting bats in Buckinghamshire as part of the construction back in November 2024.

A special 0.6 mile (1 km) curved barrier was needed along tracks in the area to prevent bats being disturbed by high-speed trains. Bats are legally protected in the UK.

"We call it a shed," then HS2 chairman Jon Thompson said at the time. "This shed, you're not going to believe this, cost more than £100m to protect the bats in this wood."

Natural England said it had not required HS2 to "adopt this structure", but its role had been to "comment on whether the proposed mitigations will work".

Now, the transport secretary tells MPs that the government has "changed legislation", which could allow a "different approach" to protected species in the future.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander blamed previous governments for a “litany of failure” on HS2 that sent costs soaring and huge contracts handed out without price improvements.

"Instead of signalling the country's ambition, HS2 became a symbol of the country's decline," she told MPs.

Here's a reminder of what she said:

• On the cost she said completing HS2 would now have a price tag of between £87.7bn and £102.7bn, in 2025 prices – in 2011, it was initially estimated to cost £32.7bn.
• Trains are now expected to start running between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham’s Curzon Street station between May 2036 and October 2039 – at least a decade after the initial start date. Services from Euston in central London to Handsacre Junction in Staffordshire are expected between May 2040 and December 2043 - this is where the high-speed trains are supposed to leave their special tracks and join the existing line north
• On speed, Alexander criticised what she called the "gold-plating" of HS2 – in other words, making the project faster and more sophisticated than needed. Initially, HS2 trains were planned to travel at 224 mph (360km/h), but the secretary of state said they will now run at a maximum speed of 199 mph (320 km/h).

As we just reported, the cost of HS2 is now expected to be between £87.7bn and £102.7bn (in 2025 prices).

The new figures are equivalent to £70.9 to £82.2 billion in 2019 terms, according to a government report published alongside Heidi Alexander's statement.

This is a separate document to the Lovegrove report, which we are also working our way through.

The report calls this a "stark increase on the previous cost range of £35-45 billion (2019 prices) set under the previous government".

The range includes the cost of both "works to date" and "future work excluding inflation". It covers the cost of the whole programme stretching from London Euston to Birmingham Curzon Street, as well as the connection to the West Coast Main Line at Handsacre Junction.

Alexander says there is provision in the costing she has set out "for the delivery of Euston" and for signalling costs. She says she has also "gone out to market to attract private investment".

Chair of the transport select committee Ruth Cadbury is up next. She asks what Alexander is doing now to ensure other essential transport projects - including the Lower Thames Crossing and the Northern Powerhouse rail project - do not go the same way.

Alexander addresses Northern Powerhouse Rail - she says the government is working with local leaders to "agree scope in advance, to agree priorities and sequencing so we know what elements of the overall programme will be delivered first".

The Lovegrove report - which has looked into lessons learned from HS2's failures - has just been published.

We're combing through it and will bring you the key lines shortly.