The Minister for Transport acknowledged that the HS2 rail service may not reach central London until 2040.
This would have meant leaving passengers at a junction six miles from the planned Euston terminal and boarding the Elizabeth Line to complete their journey.
Speaking to MPs on the Transportation Select Committee, Mark Harper also said delays in the troubled high-speed rail project would not save money.
He told MPs that due to design difficulties for the HS2 train tunnel under the capital, central London may not be accessible until it is completed before Manchester. According to current projections, this could mean 2040.
Project operator HS2 Ltd says the first section will open between 2029 and 2033, initially just between Old Oak Common, six miles northwest of central London, and Birmingham.
Mr Harper confirmed reports that work on the tunnel linking Old Oak Common to London Euston would be halted and said there were a number of “very serious problems” during the design work.
He told the deputies of the Committee for Transport: “It was much more than the available budget, and therefore I decided to suspend construction.”
Asked by Conservative MP Greg Smith if the hiatus means HS2 “will ever really come to London? or would it be a railroad, fast enough but not directly going anywhere, that would be so useful to someone?
The London-Birmingham-Manchester rail link is years behind schedule and billions of pounds over budget. The section from Birmingham to Leeds has already been abandoned for reasons of economy.
Mr Harper told MPs the delays would not save taxpayers money. “Procrastination by itself doesn’t make money.”
He said it reflects “every year you have a budget, anyone who listens to this has to live within their annual budget as well as the budget over time. We had to make smart choices about how you make those choices.”
Euston Station workers were informed last month of layoff plans following the decision to phase out the scheme.
The full impact of the Euston Tunnel’s delay is unclear, but Mr Harper confirmed that “demobilization” of work would add to the cost of the project.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in January that he sees “no conceivable circumstances” in which High Speed 2 would not go to the proposed Euston terminal.
HS2 is suffering from criticism of its finances. In 2015, the entire project was budgeted at £55.7bn. The National Audit Office said last month that HS2 would need to nearly double its current budget of £2.6bn if it wants to complete London’s Euston terminal.
Construction of the Euston terminus was halted for two years by HS2 and the Department of Transportation in order to develop a “cheaper and more workable project”.
The delay at Euston means passengers on the HS2 will have to transfer to the Elizabeth line at Old Oak Common to reach central London.
Source: I News
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