The HS2 high speed line will go to Euston, transport secretary Louise Haigh signalled on Tuesday.
She said an announcement would be made soon, expected at the October 30 Budget.
There had been speculation that HS2 trains running from Birmingham could stop at Old Oak Common in west London rather than Euston, given the soaring cost.
Pressed whether it was affordable for the high-speed line to run to Euston, Ms Haigh told Times Radio: “It would never have made sense to leave it between Old Oak Common and Birmingham.
“Euston was always planned to be part of the picture for HS2. We are hoping to make an announcement on that very soon.”
She also stressed that the decision to turn off the huge advertising boards at Euston had proved “popular”.
Rail chiefs have come under fire for the state of the major rail terminal.
“I asked Network Rail to make those changes because the passenger experience was clearly not good enough there and they made the decision to temporarily turn off the advertising boards, which has been very popular with customers,” explained Ms Haigh.
London business leaders are warning that the HS2 extension to Euston is “vital” amid the uncertainty over the huge infrastructure project.
But HS2 has been plagued by doubts over whether it would ever materialise after cancellations and delays.
Here is what we know about the project.
What was the plan for HS2?
HS2 is a project to build a high-speed rail line in England, with the scheme announced in January 2009 by the Labour Government. In 2010, it was planned to connect London with Birmingham, Manchester, East Midlands Parkway, Leeds, and York.
It followed HS1, which is the 109km rail line from London’s St Pancras International and the Channel Tunnel and international high-speed routes, opening in the first decade of the 2000s.
The Labour Government wanted to address capacity constraints on the north-south rail links in England. They also said it would reduce journey times, create jobs and help the country’s economy, particularly in Northern areas that would likely see investment generated if the travel links to these places improved.
In 2012, the HS2 project was officially given the go-ahead, with a bill being introduced to parliament the following year.
The line was originally planned to be delivered in three phases:
- Phase 1: London to the West Midlands
- Phase 2a: West Midlands to Crewe
- Phase 2b: Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to York / Leeds.
There were also negotiations involving routes to Scotland, and also to Heathrow.
Work on phase one began in 2017.
What difficulties did HS2 face?
The scheme attracted a lot of criticism from campaign groups and legal challenges citing environmental concerns. In 2016, the National Audit Office warning that the project would likely be delayed and potentially over budget. The HS2 chief executive at the time, Simon Kirby, resigned months later.
The budget did balloon. In 2012, the cost was proposed to be £32bn; however, that figure eventually rose to a projected £100bn, with numerous delays during the pandemic adding to spiralling costs.
After much negotiation, the Leeds route was cancelled in 2021.
What did the Conservative government announce?
In October 2023, then prime minister Rishi Sunak announced in his speech at the Conservative Party Conference that only Phase 1 would now go ahead,
The route would now only run from London to the West Midlands, much to the fury of pro-campaigners.
Mr Sunak blamed cost overruns, delays, and changes to post-Covid travel as key reasons why he cancelled the line north of the West Midlands.
As part of the cancellation of the Birmingham to Manchester leg, the previous government announced land that had been bought and was no longer needed would be sold, with the process slated to begin within weeks of the announcement.
The initial phase of land sales would have seen small amounts of agricultural land sold back to farmers.
What has the Labour government said?
In January, before the election, Keir Starmer said he couldn’t “stand here and commit to reversing" the previous government's decision, saying there was no money to continue the scheme.
Sir Keir said it was "not possible to do HS2" as that government had "blown the budget".
"Contracts are going to be cancelled," he said.
But he did add: "It does not mean that we won't have a plan for transport in the North-West, desperately needed”, and said that Labour were “committed” to improving the service there.
In July, it was revealed how land that had previously been slated for the project and was no longer needed had not yet been sold.
It is unclear if the sales will begin under Labour.
As part of the King’s Speech, the new Labour government said it would not reverse the controversial decision to scrap the northern leg of High Speed Two (HS2) and instead repurpose the High Speed Rail Bill to “provide powers to construct and operate rail projects which improve east to west connectivity across the North of England”.
What is the HS2 light?
The Government is said to be considering a slower alternative to HS2 between Manchester and Birmingham – dubbed “HS2-Light”.
Regional leaders have been pushing for an alternative to the scrapped leg of HS2 in a bid to increase rail capacity north of Birmingham.
A report commissioned by the two mayors of Britain’s second- and third-largest cities last month suggested that an 80km (50-mile) Midlands-North West rail link between Manchester and Birmingham can be built that would deliver 85 per cent of the benefit of HS2’s cancelled second phase, at 60 per cent to 75 per cent of the costs.
