HS2 diggers in Hampstead Road before work was ‘paused’

ANOTHER government watchdog – the third this year – has given a withering assessment of the HS2 railway project, branding it “unachievable”.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority said in its annual report this week that plans for High Speed 2 railway would have to be significantly stripped back under the current budget.

The judgment of the IPA, which reports directly to the cabinet office and the treasury, follows similar negative reports from the National Audit Committee and Public Accounts Committee earlier this year. So far these warnings have been ignored by the government.

“Successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable”, the IPA said in its findings.

“There are major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable. “The project may need rescoping and/or its overall viability reassessed.”

A “red” rating was assigned to the project’s construction of the first two phases – which includes the Camden works that have recently been paused while a cost cutting review takes place.

In recent months, the question of whether the line will ever reach Euston has come up again and again – even though homes and businesses have already been flattened and graves exhumed from a burial ground close to the station.

A separate leaked government report has revealed that ministers are now seriously considering abandoning the “oversite development” and reducing platform numbers from 11 to 7 at a rebuilt Euston in the latest scaled-back proposals, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The HS2 railway was initially scheduled to open in 2026 but the Euston section of the line is now not expected to be completed until the 2040s – if it ever gets built.

Engineers have been told to focus on completing the line between Birmingham and Old Oak Common in west London instead of Euston. Camden is one of the areas worst affected by HS2 – with no end in sight to disruption. Demolition works around Euston have already caused years of misery to thousands of Camden residents. Hundreds of people have lost their homes, while those left behind were subjected to noise and dust blighting their lives.

Businesses like the Bree Louise pub were seized under compulsory purchase orders and then bulldozed to the dismay of its loyal clientele and landlord. Dozens of trees have also been cut down – a controversial decision which led to protesters burying under Euston Square Gardens and holding an occupation in their self-dig tunnels.

Despite the reports coming out of the heart of government each year, MPs routinely say they press ahead with the project, which is backed by both Conservatives and Labour – and was the brainchild of Baron Andrew Adonis, the unelected peer.

Transport secretary, Mark Harper, announced in March that work at Euston would be paused for two years as costs had ballooned to £4.8bn, compared with an initial budget of £2.6bn, leaving a hole in the ground and a ghost construction site.

Meanwhile, HS2’s chief executive, Mark Thurston, announced his resignation after six and a half years of leading the government-owned company on a huge six figure salary. He earned £622,000 in 2022 from the public purse.

HS2 Ltd has said it is not immune to inflation that is affecting the rising cost of building materials and construction company budgets.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Spades are already in the ground on HS2, with 350 construction sites, over £20 billion invested to date and supporting over 28,500 jobs. We remain committed to delivering HS2 in the most cost-effective way for taxpayers.”