Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said she is “reinstating ministerial oversight of the project to ensure greater accountability.”
She added: “Separately, the incentives of the main HS2 contractors are also being reviewed, which could lead to some contracts being renegotiated or amended.”
Haigh said: “It has long been clear that the costs of HS2 have been allowed to spiral out of control, but since becoming Transport Secretary I have seen up close the scale of failure in project delivery – and it’s dire.
“Taxpayers have a right to expect HS2 is delivered efficiently and I won’t stand for anything less.
“I have promised to work fast and fix things and that’s exactly why I have announced urgent measures to get a grip on HS2’s costs and ensure taxpayers’ money is put to good use. It’s high time we make sure lessons are learnt and the mistakes of HS2 are never repeated again.”
Regular meetings will start immediately where Haigh, Rail Minister Lord Hendy and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will scrutinise delivery of the project whose budget could hit £66bn.
The government added: “Over the years, the cost of Phase One has soared, due to poor project management, inflation and poor performance from the supply chain, without sufficient explanation of what is to be done to deliver to budget.”
A wider review of how major infrastructure projects are delivered has also been commissioned which “will primarily draw on experiences of HS2 to date to ensure recommendations and learnings are applied to its delivery as well as to future projects.”
The management of HS2 Ltd will shortly be taken over by new Chief Executive, Mark Wild who performed a similar role at Crossrail.
Haigh said she will “task him with assessing the current position on cost, schedule and culture, and providing an action plan to deliver the remaining work as cost effectively as possible, including at a realistic budget and schedule.”
