LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday the southern leg of the HS2 railway line should run to central London, and that the government would commit funding to start the tunnelling required.
The multi billion-pound project was scaled back by the previous government last year.
Presenting the first budget of the new Labour government, Reeves said the high-speed rail project – which will connect the capital city to Birmingham in central England – should extend to Euston station.
Without new private money the rail line was set to terminate at Old Oak Common in the outskirts of the capital under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who also cancelled the northern leg of the project between Birmingham and Manchester over cost overruns.
“We are committing the funding required to begin tunnelling work to London Euston station, catalysing private investment into the local area,” Reeves said.
The project, proposed by the last Labour government in 2010, was designed to add capacity to Britain’s railway network and help the country’s infrastructure catch up with other European countries which have extensive faster modern tracks, but its costs have spiralled to over 100 billion pounds.
(Reporting by David Milliken and Sachin Ravikumar; Writing by Muvija M; Editing by Paul Sandle)
