UK's new high-speed rail line to be ready after 2033 HS2 project chiefs talk of 'fundamental reset'
Works on the HS2 line (photo Joseph Walshe / SWNS / SWNS / Profimedia)
The company building the HS2 high-speed line, where trains will run at 360km/h between London and Birmingham, has admitted the project will not be ready until 2033 because things have been more difficult than expected and a “fundamental reset” is also needed to avoid repeating the “mistakes of the past”.
The BBC writes that HS2 has confirmed that the target of running trains between Birmingham and London between 2029-2033 “cannot be achieved”.
The British have been working for years on this high-speed rail project to connect the two largest cities in the Kingdom, but several phases have been canceled.
For what remained of the project, 225 kilometers of high-speed line between London and Birmingham (including 50 km through tunnels), total costs were estimated at between £35 billion and £45 billion. The most recent calculations, however, which also take into account inflation and rising construction prices (and the cost of labour), indicate between 45 billion and 54 billion pounds. Some estimates show that it could exceed 65 billion pounds in the end. The first cost estimate, from 2012, indicated just £20 billion.
In the latest update, HS2 CEO Mark Wild promised to correct “past failures” and get HS2 “back on track”. “It is clear that this can only be achieved through a fundamental reset,” he continued.
This is not the first time there has been talk of a reset. In early 2025, Mark Wild admitted that the work was “more complicated than thought” and spoke of a re-evaluation of the costs and timetable of execution.
HS2 data shows that 70% of embankment work is complete and Birmingham's new Curzon Street station is also taking shape.
HS2 is now focusing on completing the complex program of civil engineering works along the 225km route, ahead of the next crucial stage: the installation of tracks, signaling and communications systems.
Britain has 108 km of high-speed rail lines, as part of the London-Paris line, famous for the Channel Tunnel and Eurostar trains.
