HS2 Ltd is targeting a 2030 completion date for the new high-speed rail line between west London and Birmingham, MPs have been told.
The company’s executive chairman Sir Jon Thompson revealed the internal target while giving evidence to a recall session of the public accounts committee.
Thompson was initially tight-lipped on the exact completion date, saying that they were “well within” the 2029 to 2033 range that government ministers have publicly committed to.
But later in the hearing, he said HS2 Ltd “have a month that we are trying to aim for in 2030”.
The executive chairman also used the committee meeting to criticise an investigation by the Sunday Times, which alleged that HS2 Ltd had sacked whistle-blowers and used misleading projections to keep the scheme alive.
Thompson described the article as “a disgrace” arguing that the allegations had already been investigated by the National Audit Office and the government internal audit agency and that no issues had been found.
He did admit that cost management of the project needed to be improved but lay part of the blame at the government’s door.
“The government decision to let a cost-plus contract where…
