Lovegrove review blames Hs2 speed focus and pressure

hs2’s latest review is expected to say the project failed in part because its original design chased the highest possible speeds while political pressure shaped the plan. The report, written by Sir Stephen Lovegrove, comes as Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander prepares to update ministers on the scheme’s timetable and cost.

Alexander asked HS2 bosses in March to examine lower top speeds as a way to save money. She is also expected to confirm that trains will not begin running by the current 2033 target and to set out a fresh price tag for the line.

Lovegrove’s HS2 findings

Lovegrove’s review is expected to say the project’s failures were rooted in changing political priorities and ballooning costs. It is also expected to highlight what the report sees as the gold-plating of the high-speed concept, which produced a bespoke and highly engineered design.

The review has also considered what the project means for the civil service and the public sector. That makes it more than a post-mortem on one rail scheme: it reaches into how large state projects are set up, revised and managed after ministers change course.

Alexander and the speed question

HS2 was designed to allow trains to run at up to 360 km/h, faster than any other conventional railway in the world. Most high-speed trains in the UK run at around 220 km/h, while HS1 reaches speeds of up to 300 km/h.

Alexander said earlier this year that she was “determined to explore every opportunity” to “bring down costs and delivery timetables,” including reducing the top speeds of trains on the line. In June 2025, she said that after “a litany of failure” she was “drawing a line in the sand” and that the government would get HS2 delivered.

Route cuts and reset

The project has already been pared back. HS2 was first confirmed in 2012 with a plan that would have run from London to Birmingham and then on separate lines to Leeds and Manchester, but the eastern leg to Leeds was cancelled in 2021 and the section between Manchester and Birmingham was ditched in 2023.

Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, was tasked with carrying out a comprehensive reset of the project. HS2 Ltd has also said it would slow or pause work on the line towards Handsacre to focus spending on areas that had fallen behind, including the central section across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire.

The line remains in its peak construction phase, with the 10-mile tunnel under the Chilterns and the Colne Valley viaduct both completed. For passengers and taxpayers, the next step is a new set of numbers: whether the 2033 target slips and how much the scheme now costs after years of redesign and cancellation.