{"id":36675,"date":"2026-03-23T22:22:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/03\/23\/hs2-trains-could-run-slower-than-planned-to-save-money\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T22:22:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:22:59","slug":"hs2-trains-could-run-slower-than-planned-to-save-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/03\/23\/hs2-trains-could-run-slower-than-planned-to-save-money\/","title":{"rendered":"HS2 trains could run slower than planned to save money"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Theo Leggett<\/span>Transport correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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HS2 high speed railway trains could be made to run slower than initially planned to keep costs down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The government has ordered the company building the project to consider lower speeds on the line from London to Birmingham, which has been hit by delays and cost overruns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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HS2’s chief executive Mark Wild was expected to say this month the line would not be completed until after the current 2033 deadline and it would cost over \u00a3100bn in today’s prices, but that announcement has now been delayed until after the May elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Among the options is a lower initial operating speed on the line. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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HS2 has been designed to allow trains to run at up to 360km\/h (224mph). Department for Transport sources point out that this is faster than any other conventional railway in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Most high speed trains in this country run at up to 200km\/h (125mph), while those on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1) operate at up to 300km\/h.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This means HS2 trains could not be tested at their intended operating speeds until a bespoke test track, or the railway itself is complete, something DfT sources claim would delay completion of the project by several years and cost billions of pounds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The alternative, they say, would be to send trains to China to be tested on existing tracks there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The government has been highly critical of decisions taken by previous administrations. Last year, the Transport Secretary described the scheme as “an appalling mess”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Conservatives have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wild had previously worked as chief executive of Crossrail, the project that became London’s Elizabeth Line. He was appointed as chief executive of HS2 under the previous government in May 2024 to oversee the completion of the railway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wild has spent more than a year working on a “reset” of the entire project which is meant to set out a realistic schedule and budget for delivering the line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A number of major developments, including tunnels and bridges, have been built along the line but it is still years away from completion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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HS2 was originally envisaged as a high-speed railway that would connect London with Leeds and Manchester. However, the sections north of Birmingham were subsequently cancelled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Under current plans, HS2 trains will travel from Birmingham to Manchester, but at reduced speed on the existing West Coast Main Line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theo LeggettTransport correspondent Getty Images HS2 high speed railway trains could be made to run slower than initially planned to keep costs down. The government has ordered the company building the project to consider lower speeds on the line from London to Birmingham, which has been hit by delays and cost overruns. HS2’s chief executive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market","category-news","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}