The cost of building the HS2 high speed rail line is out of control, a damning new report has found.
And the Government’s priority should be to improve rail services in the North of England - not to build a high speed line between London and Birmingham.
The findings were published by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, whose members include former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling and former Conservative Chancellor Norman Lamont.
They spoke to independent rail experts, government ministers and officials overseeing construction of the new HS2 rail network.
And they concluded: “We are far from convinced by the Government’s claim that the whole High Speed 2 (HS2) project will be built within the £55.7bn budget.
“The costs do not appear to be under control”.
So far £4 billion has been spent on the first phase of HS2, which links London and Birmingham.
The Government is also committed to building a second phase, adding two sections to the line which will run from Birmingham to Leeds and from Birmingham to Manchester.
But phase two has not yet received Parliamentary approval and the inquiry warned that it might never happen if the first phase proves far more expensive than planned.
The Committee highlighted a warning from Sir Terry Morgan, the former chairman of HS2 Ltd, who said that “nobody knows” what the final cost of the project will be.
Their report said: “We are concerned that if costs overrun on the first phase of the project there will be insufficient funding for the second phase and the northern sections of the railway will not be built.
“The northern sections of High Speed 2 must not be sacrificed to make up for overspending on the railway’s southern sections.”
Transport authority Transport for the North, led by mayors and council leaders in the North of England, has drawn up plans for a rail network called Northern Powerhouse Rail, including a new high speed track between Yorkshire and the North West of England. There will also be improvements to existing tracks, including the line from Leeds to Newcastle.
But the plans largely involve extending the northern leg of HS2. It means that if phase two of HS2 is cancelled, Northern Powerhouse Rail would also be under threat.
The report warned: “Representatives of the northern cities said that the Northern Powerhouse Rail Programme could not be completed without the second phase of High Speed 2 being built.”
As a result, the inquiry said phase 2 of HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme should be treated as one programme. They added: “Funding for Northern Powerhouse Rail should be ringfenced and bought forward where possible.”
And the report pointed out that the first phase “will run between Birmingham and London and has little benefit for northern cities.”
It continued: “The Government’s priority for investment in British rail infrastructure should be the north of England.
“People travelling into northern cities are depending on overcrowded and unreliable services.”
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee and a Conservative former Cabinet Minister, said: “Commuter services in the north of England are badly overcrowded and reliant on ageing trains. Rail connections between northern cities are poor.
“As the Committee suggested in its 2015 report, rail infrastructure in the north should be the Government’s priority for investment, rather than improving north-south links which are already good.
“The north is being short-changed by the Government’s present plans, especially as construction on HS2 is starting in the south. Any overcrowding relief from HS2 will mainly benefit London commuters.”
He added: “The plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail should be integrated with the plans for the northern section of HS2, and funding for the project ringfenced. This will allow rail investment in the north to be prioritised where it is most needed.”
Transport leaders in the West Midlands, Birmingham City Council and regional mayor Andy Street are firmly behind HS2.
The planned new line includes a new city centre station at Curzon Street and a second new "interchange" station near Birmingham Airport in Solihull.
An HS2 Ltd spokesperson said: "We thank the Lords Economic Affairs Committee for its interest in Britain’s new high speed railway and will consider their recommendations as the project progresses.
"HS2 will generate around £92 billion in benefits to the UK economy, with local economic plans forecasting the creation of 500,000 jobs and nearly 90,000 new homes. Work is underway at over 250 locations and the scheme already supports more than 7,000 jobs directly and across our supply chain.
"As stated in the report, HS2 is fundamental to the delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail. It is also vital to the Midlands Rail Hub, and will transform rail journeys across the Midlands and North, giving passengers thousands of extra seats every day, and taking freight of the roads. As regional leaders across the Midlands and North have repeatedly said, it’s not a case of either or, it’s both.
"We are determined to deliver a railway that is value for money for the taxpayer, and a project that will reshape the economic geography of the country. We have strengthened our controls and are actively applying lessons learnt from recent infrastructure projects to ensure we have the most cost-effective approach."
