HS2
Ltd
chief
executive
Mark
Thurston


has
admitted
that
the
cost
of
building
a
new
station
alongside
the
existing
London
Euston
terminus
for
high
speed
trains
was
not
really
known
until
last
year.

The
National
Audit
Office
warned
at
the
end
of
March
that
the
existing
budget
of
£2.6
billion
was
inadequate,
and
that
the
estimated
cost
now 
stands
at
£4.8
billion.

More
recently,
work
on
the
tunnel
between
Old
Oak
Common
and
Euston
was
‘paused’
last
week,
although
HS2
Ltd
announced
as
recently
as
12
April
that
work
had
started
on
building
an
853m
‘logistics
tunnel’
between
Atlas
Road
North
Acton
and
the
Old
Oak
Common
site
to
be
used
for
the
delivery
of
construction
materials
and
the
removal
of
waste
from
the
main
Euston
running
tunnels.

Speaking
to
the
Commons
Public
Accounts
Committee,
Mr
Thurston
said
the
real
costs
of
HS2
Euston
were
not
clear
for
a
long
time,
saying: ‘candidly,
it
was
only
until
we
got
to
the
autumn
of
last
year’
that
the
costs
were
fully
understood.

Transport
secretary
Mark
Harper
had
told
the
Transport
Committee
last
week
that
a
new
delay
at
Euston
could
only
increase
the
final
bill.