The cost of building the High Speed 2 (HS2) project in the UK has jumped by £800m due to construction complexities.
The news comes around a month after the construction work for the high speed project officially began.
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According to a BBC report, UK ministers have agreed that additional funds will be required to finance the redevelopment of London Euston station and the removal of further asbestos discovered along the route.
The admission of this surge in costs came in the government’s first bi-annual update on HS2 to parliament.
This year, the government gave a revised budget of £98bn for the project. The first stretch of HS2 is expected to cost £40bn.
Set to connect London, the Midlands and the North, the HS2 project has faced criticisms over its growing budget and environmental impact.
The current government has agreed that more transparency over the project’s progress is necessary, the report added.
HS2’s first phase will enable high speed trains to run between London and Birmingham on 140 miles of dedicated track. It is expected to be completed by 2029 at the earliest.
The second phase, which is further divided into two sub-phases, will not be complete until 2040.
After construction commenced last month, HS2 Ltd, the company delivering the project, announced several contracts.
Booth Industries was selected to deliver tunnel safety doors while German firm Herrenknecht will supply the first two tunnelling machines.
A consortium of Porr UK and Aggregate Industries UK will deliver a modular track system for the project.
