High Speed 2 Railway Line: Chilterns

(asked on 9th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what investigations into extending the HS2 Chiltern Tunnels are ongoing; and when a final decision will be made on any such extension.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 12th March 2020

The House of Commons Select Committee considered the possibility of a bored tunnel passing through the whole of the Chilterns AONB, continuing north of Wendover, in great detail. The proposal was rejected, primarily on the grounds of cost.

The Committee did however recommended a 2.6km extension of the bored tunnel (originally to be 13.4 km long) to South Heath, which was a significant change made by AP4, introduced on 12 October 2015.

Since Royal Assent for the Phase One Act in February 2017, HS2 Ltd have been proceeding on the basis of the tunnel design as set out in the Act. There are no investigations into extending the tunnel and no plans to do so.

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