Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the costs to date has been of the preparation work for the connection of High Speed 2 to High Speed 1.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In response to the HS2 Plus report by Sir David Higgins, the Secretary of State has decided to remove the HS1-HS2 link from the Phase One Hybrid Bill. The proposed link required too many compromises in terms of impacts on freight, passengers and the community in Camden.

We believe there is a good strategic case for links to the continent but we need to select the right long term answer. The Secretary of State has therefore asked HS2 Ltd and Network Rail to consider how to improve connections from HS2 and the existing rail network to the Continent. We are currently developing the scope of the proposed study, which will explore options that will stand the test of time. As a result, at this stage no significant costs have been incurred in relation to the study.