HS2 bosses enjoy £500 taxpayer-funded dinners as high-speed rail project’s costs spiral
HS2 executives have been criticized for spending over £500 on taxpayer-funded dinners as the project's costs continue to rise. The estimated cost of the high-speed rail project has increased significantly, now projected to exceed £100 billion. Despite the backlash, HS2 officials defend the expenses as necessary for project discussions.
- ▪HS2 board members spent £1,649.84 on three dinners between October and December.
- ▪The project's cost is now estimated to be between £87.7 billion and £102.7 billion, up from previous estimates of £35 billion to £45 billion.
- ▪Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced that trains will run more slowly to cut costs and that the opening of the line will be delayed until at least 2036.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
NewsUKHome NewsHS2 bosses enjoy £500 taxpayer-funded dinners as high-speed rail project’s costs spiralExclusive: Critics say board members should spend less time in ‘high-end cocktail bars’ and more time ‘driving down the cost’ of the beleaguered project Alex Ross Friday 22 May 2026 11:42 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2980470","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hs2-cost-expenses-wild-heidi-alexander-b2980470.html","title":"HS2 bosses enjoy £500 taxpayer-funded dinners as rail project’s costs spiral"}}HS2 cost…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Independent.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from The Independent
