New railway finishing up at west London instead
HS2 has said a government decision to pull the plug on building a new station at Euston meant it has written off more than 拢150m in costs on the scheme.
Former transport secretary Mark Harper announced last March the job, which was supposed to be a 10 platform station and built by a joint venture of Mace and Dragados, was being mothballed because of rising costs.
But in its latest annual report, HS2 said the decision, which will see the number of platforms at Euston reduced to six, meant it has booked 拢153m it spent on the job as a loss.
It said: 鈥淭he company is no longer expected to gain an economic benefit from the specific design work already completed on the 10-platform station. Accordingly, the company has impaired the value of the work that can no longer be used by reducing the asset value and declaring the expenditure [拢152.9m] as a loss.鈥�
>> See also: 鈥楾he design team has gone from 500 to six.鈥� What HS2 Euston is doing now
It added that the decision last October by then prime minister Rishi Sunak to cancel the second phase of the scheme has cost more than 拢2bn.
As well as the 拢153m from Euston, the decision cost 拢1bn as well as a further 拢1bn in 鈥渃osts previously incurred on phase two which were not capitalised鈥� to bring the total figure to 拢2.17bn.
The previous government said private funding will be needed to make sure trains go into the middle of London 鈥� which has also been reiterated by the new Labour administration. Under the current plan, HS2 trains will terminate at Old Oak Common in west London.
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