Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 13 October (HLWS503), what plans they have to produce a revised plan for the remainder of HS2 encompassing (1) a revised estimated total cost, (2) revised estimated passenger demand reflecting changes in travel behaviour due to COVID-19, (3) a revised design for Euston Station reflecting maximum number of trains per hour, (4) an option for the permanent termination of HS2 at Old Oak Common, and (5) a revised cost-benefit analysis.

The Full Business Case for Phase One was approved in April this year and included a robust cost-benefit analysis using the latest cost and schedule estimates. The Government has also committed to keeping Parliament regularly updated on HS2 delivery against those cost and schedule estimates, and the first Parliamentary Report published in October provides the latest figures.

The Department is working with colleagues across Government to understand and assess the pandemic’s impact on transport demand and on the wider economy, and how this will affect existing and future business cases for transport infrastructure investment.

In response to the Oakervee Review conclusions, the Department for Transport has commissioned a study looking into the design and construction efficiency of the future Euston station as a whole. A further update on the outcomes of this work will be reported in the next HS2 Parliamentary Report.

There are no current plans to permanently terminate HS2 services at Old Oak Common. HS2 Ltd’s latest advice indicates that no more than 6 trains per hour can reliably be operated from Old Oak Common as a temporary terminus, whilst Euston is being completed, under the current Old Oak Common station design.