UK's HS2 High-Speed Rail Construction Costs Rise, Schedule Delayed Again

The UK government announced today that the construction cost of the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway could exceed £100 billion (approximately NT$4.3 trillion), with expenses continuing to rise and the construction timeline further delayed, even after the project was scaled down. According to Agence France-Presse, UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander stated in Parliament that the completion cost for the section between London and Birmingham in central England could range from "£87.7 billion to £102.7 billion" at 2025 prices. She also added that the expected completion date has been postponed again, from 2033 to 2039 at the latest. Alexander said, "Two-thirds of this (cost) increase is due to past misunderstandings of the required engineering, underestimation, and inefficiency," with the remainder attributed to inflation. This will be the UK's second high-speed railway line; the first is the Eurostar train route from London to the Channel Tunnel, extending to France. The London to Birmingham section was originally scheduled to open this year.