HS2 '˜could run out of money before Yorkshire stretch is built'

Lord Bradshaw, a former British Rail chief operations manager, told the Lords he was wholeheartedly behind the HS2 project.

But he said costings for the £55.7 billion project were not “soundly based” or up to date due to “flimsy cost estimates”.

The Liberal Democrat peer warned that if economies were not made in the project now there would not be enough money to extend HS2 north beyond Birmingham.

Phase one is due to open in December 2026, with a second Y-shaped phase launching in two stages.

Phase 2a from the West Midlands to Crewe will open in 2027 and phase 2b, from Crewe to Manchester and from the West Midlands to Leeds, South Yorkshire and the East Midlands, will begin operation in 2033.

In report stage debate on the High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Bill, he said economies could be made by establishing Old Oak Common station as an interim terminus for the line, instead of the expensive option of Euston.

Labour’s Lord Berkeley, backing the move, said it was very important to get a “handle” on the costs.

“We don’t want to stop at Birmingham,” he said. The section north of Birmingham was more in need of improvement than the southern part, he added.

But Labour’s Lord Snape warned the change, so late in the Bill’s procedures, would lead to years of delay to the project.

Construction work on phase one of HS2 from London to Birmingham will start in the spring, subject to its parliamentary Bill getting royal assent in the coming weeks.

An amendment that would not allow construction work on HS2 to start until a report on the viability of Old Oak Common as an interim terminus has been commissioned and published was rejected in the Lords by 261 votes to 80, majority 181.

Earlier, former Labour transport secretary Lord Adonis, a non-affiliated peer and non-executive director of HS2 Ltd, warned the further review proposed by the amendment, risked “substantial delay and uncertainty” and was “not a wise thing to do”.

Opposition spokesman Lord Rosser said: “Our position is that we do not wish to see further delay to the start of this project.”

Transport minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said the option of using Old Oak Common as a temporary terminus during the first stage of the project had already been examined in detail.

He said work carried out found it “would not eliminate the construction effects and impacts in Euston”.

The minister also pointed out Old Oak Common has been designed as a through station.

Lord Ahmad added the Government did not “underestimate” the issue of costs.

The costs of schemes were a “major determinant of the success behind these projects”, he said.

Lord Ahmad told peers: “The project as a whole, including its cost estimate and business case are subject to regular independent reviews.”

Later, a proposal aimed at imposing caps on the amount of material moved by lorries during construction work on the scheme in the Euston area was defeated by 161 votes to 63, majority 98.

Moving the amendment for planned restrictions on the use of trucks, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Randerson said the project would generate a large amount of excavation spoil as well as demand for building materials.

Pointing out one train could carry as much material as 124 lorries, she added: “As much material as possible must go by rail.”

Lord Ahmad argued there was already a commitment to maximise the amount of material moved by rail.