UK resets HS2 with completion due between 2040 and 2043

After Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced a reset of HS2 in late March 2026, she told the House of Commons on 19 May 2026 that the 140-mile London–Birmingham line will cost GBP 87.7 billion to 102.7 billion at last year's prices (EUR 100 to 120 billion), instead of the GBP 37.5 billion estimated at the start in 2009, which still covered the since-scrapped leg to Leeds and Manchester. The first trains are due to run between Old Oak Common and Birmingham between May 2036 and October 2039, the section to Euston is to be finished between May 2040 and December 2043, and top speed falls from 360 to just under 320 km/h. On 7 August 2026 HS2 Ltd reported that it had renegotiated two of its most important construction contracts, with the consortia EKFB and Align, after the GBP 15 billion budget set in 2020 for phase 1 main works contracts had already been used up by 2024; the cost target the government announced in May is GBP 93.2 billion, more than 30,000 people work on site and all tunnel bores are complete. Announced on 19 May 2026; the date is a placeholder: the article gives a window of May 2040 to December 2043 for the Euston section, and the end of that window is used (LOK Report, 7 Aug 2026; earlier reports of 27 Mar and 20 May 2026).