The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that delays in linking up HS2 and Euston could end up wasting taxpayers’ money, with the platform design already ballooning billions of pounds over budget. The government has sought to arrest spiralling costs by delaying various parts of the beleaguered high-speed route including, most recently, the construction of the Birmingham to Crewe leg, which will be pushed back by two years. Ministers hope this pause will allow for the initial services between Old Oak Common in west London’s suburbs and Birmingham Curzon Street to be prioritised. However, the NAO has warned that the deferral of spending to manage inflationary pressures “will lead to additional costs and potentially to higher spend overall for the project that will need to be managed closely”.

The post Delaying HS2 Euston could waste more billions, Watchdog Warns appeared first on Balanced News Summary.