Guardian News and Media/London


The man newly appointed to bring the HS2 project back on track, Sir David Higgins, has admitted the budget could be higher than £42.6bn.
And further doubts were cast on the high-speed rail project’s cost by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who said that necessary work in the capital was not accounted for and claimed that top Treasury figures had serious anxieties about the budget.
Higgins, the Network Rail boss who will become chairman of HS2 in 2014, said he did not know if the budget was realistic. He added: “It could be higher or lower. I haven’t looked at it yet.”
He said he did not expect to be in his new role for more than two years, but insisted that this was the “most critical part of the project”, when key decisions were made.
He said his experience at the Olympic Delivery Authority showed that the shape of London 2012 was determined in the first 15 months of planning.
Higgins said he believed that the timescale of the scheme could be moved forward, saying: “We have some of the best construction designers and engineers in the world.”
At the opening of King’s Cross Square, where work overnight had revealed the final stage of the transformation of the London station, he joked: “Why are we speaking about taking 20 years to build HS2 if this is what we can do in 24 hours?”
The first stage of HS2, from London to Birmingham, is due to be finished by 2026, with the second stage, including the extension to Manchester and Leeds, due to be completed by 2032. He said having cross-party support was vital for HS2 to go ahead. Labour backs the scheme but shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, recently questioned whether it was “the best way to spend £50bn for the future of our country”. Fears about the cost were compounded by the London mayor. Johnson said he was sure that Higgins would “deliver HS2 on time and on budget whatever that budget eventually turns out to be”.