Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
The Department has made little progress on the design and delivery at Euston since we...
Recommendation
The Department has made little progress on the design and delivery at Euston since we last reported, and we remain concerned that time is running out. Euston station is a key element of the programme both as the London terminus for High Speed 2 and a link to existing railway network and London Underground. We raised concerns over the lack of clarity of the design and delivery of Euston station in our May 2020 report, but the Department has made no final decisions 6 HS2 Summer 2021 since then. The redevelopment of Euston station is currently estimated to cost £2.6 billion. Despite HS2 Ltd telling us last year that the design of the station was ready for planning consent, the Department has spent the past 15 months looking for cost saving options and efficiency opportunities, including the potential for a smaller station. HS2 Ltd asserts that it is getting close to the point where the programme will literally run out of time if a decision is not made soon, and that Old Oak Common is being set as the London terminus when the railway first opens to decouple it from the risks at Euston. The Department recognises that Euston is a very urgent and immediate challenge and expects to report on progress in autumn 2021. We recognise the benefits Euston provides, such as redevelopment opportunities around the station, as well as its complexity in being built at a busy operational railway in a city centre location, but the uncertainty of this part of the programme is substantial. This impacts businesses, passengers, residents and other industry stakeholders. This uncertainty needs to be resolved urgently, and the Department needs to ensure appropriate assurance has been completed on the decisions taken on the design and delivery arrangements. Recommendation: The Department should set out in its next 6-monthly report to Parliament: • the decisions that it has made about Euston; • details of the assurances it has undertaken; • its timeline on when remaining decision points will be
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 In the third HS2 6-monthly report to Parliament, the department sets out the decision to move to a smaller, simpler 10-platform design (instead of an 11-platform, 2-stage build), which can be built in a single stage and still support the full operation of the HS2 network. Moving to this revised HS2 Euston station design maintains core infrastructure capacity to run 17 trains per hour, as set out in the Phase One full business case. 2.3 The updated station design is in development and will be assured as it progresses. 2.4 The department is continuing to explore opportunities for greater integration between the HS2 and Network Rail stations through The Euston Partnership and to optimise the oversite development above the Euston terminus. Further details will be provided in the next 6-monthly report to Parliament. 8 2.5 Further to the publication of the third HS2 six-monthly report to Parliament in October, funding was approved in the Spending Review in November to support greater integration between the HS2 and Network Rail stations at Euston. HS2 Ltd and Network Rail, with support from The Euston Partnership, are working together to develop a design that optimises integration between the HS2 station and the redevelopment of the Network Rail station concourse area. This integrated approach has the potential to deliver construction efficiencies, along with significant passenger and place-making benefits at Euston. 2.6 The range for initial opening of services from Euston remains 2031-2036.