Cracking on with the HS2 timetable?

With the news about the Euston HS2 plans being paused and the results of the Phase 2 consultation delayed until late next year (the Heathrow pause having been shoved under the carpet long ago), I thought I’d check the HS2 Ltd website to find the current official timetable. After all they used to have a lovely graphic!

The graphic and timetable is gone from their key-dates page (although it is still findable on their website if you do a google image search).

The key-dates page now claims

“We are also progressing with Phase Two of the project between the West Midlands to Leeds, Manchester and beyond.”

However if you hunt around you can still retrieve the old page.

2015 was supposed to be the year of the “preparation of the second hybrid bill”, following the announcement of the Phase Two decision in 2014. However with the HS2 Phase 2 route not announced yet, and the general election meaning that the Secretary of State may change in May, there must be at a huge amount of uncertainty for the HS2 designers.

Delaying the decision on the HS2 Phase 2 route announcement until a year from now, also means the preparation of the Hybrid Bill gets delayed. And if the Hybrid Bill gets delayed, that will save a chunk of cash out of the HS2 budget for the legal work needed for this coming year end.