BRITAIN’S flagship high speed rail project WILL run into central London, the Chancellor insisted yesterday.
Jeremy Hunt spoke out amid claims parts of HS2 could be scaled back or scrapped to save billions of pounds.
He reckoned he did not see “any conceivable circumstances” where the line wouldn’t run on into Euston but didn’t comment on the timescale.
As costs soar, HS2 chiefs are considering delaying Euston’s redevelopment until 2038 or terminating HS2 at Old Oak Common near Acton, West London.
More than £1billion has already been spent on work at Euston over the past six years.
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The Sun reported yesterday the entire project could be delayed by up to five years.
Mr Hunt went on: “I think that it is a source of national embarrassment the Japanese opened their first high speed line in 1964, two years before I was born.”
The first phase of HS2 between London and Birmingham is due to open by 2033.
The next phases would see the line extended from the West Midlands to Crewe and Manchester.
In the North East yesterday PM Rishi Sunak said the government was “committed to delivering all the plans that it’s announced with rail”.