The cost of HS2’s revised and postponed London Euston terminus has almost doubled to £4.8bn since 2020, according to the the public spending watchdog, with millions wasted on botched decisions.
The government announced last month that work on the high-speed line’s central London station would be paused. But the National Audit Office warned on Monday that the move would “lead to additional costs and potentially higher costs overall”.
Despite attempts in 2020 to “reset” the project at Euston, with more than £100m in work written off after original designs were scrapped, the report said the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd could still not demonstrate that conditions were in place to secure value for money.
The forecast cost of a redesigned station with fewer platforms has still ballooned way beyond the initial £2.6bn budget, the NAO found, with £568m spent on the station up to the end of 2022, and £1.5bn spent on land purchases and preparatory work in the area.
HS2 trains are now not expected to run into Euston until 2041-43, having originally been scheduled for 2026.
Meg Hillier, the chair of the public accounts committee, said: “Attempts to reset the High Speed 2 Euston Station have failed. It is still unaffordable and no further forward than it was three years ago.
“Today’s NAO report show that the redesigned station would have cost nearly double what was budgeted. The delays to fix this will be felt not only by the taxpayer, but will continue to disrupt people and businesses around Euston.
“The Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd have wasted enough time and money. They must get Euston right next time or risk squandering what benefits remain.”
The government announced earlier this month it would be “rephasing” work on HS2 and delaying overall delivery by another two years, in an attempt to spread the costs.
The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said his department and HS2 Ltd would be taking time to ensure there was “an affordable and deliverable station design” at Euston, with trains now potentially only running from a new Old Oak Common station in west London until the line to Manchester was completed, which is forecast to be in the mid-2040s.
The NAO report said there remained further cost risks to the HS2 terminus at Euston because designs for a £1.5bn overhaul of Network Rail’s adjacent mainline station were not yet completed and integrated, and there was not a clear decision-making process.
It said lessons must be learned to avoid similar overspend at Manchester Piccadilly.
A DfT spokesperson said: “We remain committed to delivering HS2 from Euston to Manchester in a way that delivers the best value for money to the taxpayer. That’s why we recently announced we will rephase the Euston section of the project to manage inflationary pressures and work on an affordable design for the station.
“We will carefully consider the recommendations set out by the National Audit Office and will formally respond in due course.”
An HS2 spokesperson said: “Euston is one of the most complex parts of the HS2 route to build, but we are committed to working with DfT and partners to consider the recommendations of the NAO report, and to ensure we get an affordable station that is right for the local community and passengers.”
