The project has since faced the chopping block. A third phase – connecting London and the northern city of Leeds – has been scrapped entirely in a bid to keep the price closer to £96 billion ($119bn). The northern section between Birmingham and Manchester was then cancelled in October 2023, with then-PM Rishi Sunak claiming the move would save an additional £36 billion ($45bn).

British newspaper The Times reports that as much as £600 million ($736m) has been spent buying land from farmers, businesses and homeowners on this now abandoned stretch of rail. Meanwhile, the most recent HS2 annual report has revealed an additional £2 billion ($2.6bn) in costs associated with Sunak's decision to downgrade the project.

Despite the shortened line, the total cost is now estimated at £66 billion ($84bn), double the original estimate of £33 billion ($41bn), and the completion date has moved from 2026 to sometime in the next decade. The UK's new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced in her first budget that money would be guaranteed to build the rail line all the way to Euston Station instead of ending at a suburb north of London. She did not specify the costs involved.

Now discover the huge underground megastructures abandoned to time

Over-budget, delayed megaprojects around the world