Overview
- Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, in a written update to MPs on Monday, asked HS2 chief Mark Wild to assess cutting the current 360 km/h spec to about 320 km/h or 300 km/h.
- Ministers say keeping the 360 km/h target would force safety trials overseas or push testing to the end of track construction, which would add time and money.
- Wild’s initial view is that lowering the top speed could save a sum in the low billions and bring services into operation sooner, with a formal report due before Parliament’s summer recess.
- The Department for Transport says slower specifications would have a negligible effect on journey times and would match proven 300–320 km/h systems used in Japan and France.
- Right-leaning outlets framed the change as making HS2 slower than trains in India or Morocco and unions warned of a ‘slow lane’ outcome, while officials stressed HS2’s main goal is capacity rather than headline speed.