HS2 trains could run slower than planned to save money



HS2 high speed railway trains could be made to run slower than initially planned to keep costs down.

The government is to order 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 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 £100bn in today's prices, but that announcement has now been delayed until after the May elections.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is said to be weighing up all options to claw back as much time and money for the taxpayer as possible. Among the options is a lower initial operating speed on the line.

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.

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.

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.

The alternative, they say, would be to send trains to China to be tested on existing tracks there.

The government has been highly critical of decisions taken by previous administrations. Last year, the Transport Secretary described the scheme as "an appalling mess".

The Conservatives have been approached for comment.

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.

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.

A number of major developments, including tunnels and bridges, have been built along the line but it is still years away from completion.

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.

Under current plans, HS2 trains will travel from Birmingham to Manchester, but at reduced speed on the existing West Coast Main Line.

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59 is being delayed at Westbury.
This is due to the train departing late to maintain customer connections.

Electrification Didcot to Oxford, Newbury to Bedwyn, or Cockelbury Lane to Bath where tracks are already primed and there are even some overheads in place, anyone?

Do you think that perhaps, assuming a reasonable amount of common sense (risky I know), that someone on the train in question expecting to be picked up would ring ahead and confirm any revised arrival time, especially given yesterday's events at Newton Abbot?

Shock, horror  - 9 minutes late into Penzance - 08:04 versus 07:55.   All that remains is for anyone who's told their lift to pick them up at the JourneyCheck expected time of 08:54 to twiddle their thumbs for 50 minutes.

Bit of an old thread, but have today (23 March 2026) announced electrification is finished.

I think Cardiff Bay line was final bit energised.

https://news.tfw.wales/news/100-percent-electrification-of-the-core-valley-lines-complete

I did think of adding something along the lines of 'your move, Wiltshire' at the end of that post... trouble is transport doesn't very neatly map on to county boundaries. West Wilts has strong links with BANES, but what about north-east Somerset?

Interesting eyewitness account, sounds as if the problems with smoke, smell and oil/grease
were evident and reported to GWR by a passenger some time before the train was forced to stop but the journey was allowed to continue.

Some tricky questions for GWR to address.


https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/gwr-train-fire-passengers-stranded-10880256

Wonder what happens now, presumably disperse the teams, lose the knowledge etc because don't have rolling programme, lose ability to quickly do another bit etc.

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23:50 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:55

22/03/26 23:50 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:55 will be diverted between Reading and Exeter St Davids.

It has been delayed at London Paddington and is now 59 minutes late.
This is due to train crew being delayed.

I should add that the East Somerset Railway is NOT unique in being hard to reach by public transport. There's an irony in attraction about old public transport celebrations being only randomly accessible by public transport.  The Swindon and Cricklade railway is another interesting one ... as it the West Somerset - astonishing that as it should be providing a public transport rail service from all over the UK to Butlins and Minehead.  And I have yet to reach Gartell and Stafold Barn ...

Incidentally does anyone else find it odd that Network Rail feel that they have to call ballast 'track stones', assuming that people who are interested in railway maintenance wouldn't know what ballast was? Next they'll be calling the rails 'shiny steel strips'...

OpenTrainTimes shows 5E13 on the up line from Plymouth approaching Newton Abbott ... but the down line open. Sadly, it shows that the lines are NOT signalled for bidirectional working, which scuppers the change of even one train an hour past the one that can't move.

Engineers are due onsite at 20:00 to assess the unit.

Probably tempting fate but the sleepers haven’t been cancelled, yet.