In June 2025, Alexander said that after “a litany of failure” she was “drawing a line in the sand” and the government would get HS2 delivered.
Mark Wild, chief executive of the project’s delivery company HS2 Ltd, was tasked with carrying out comprehensive “reset”.
Earlier this year the transport secretary said she was “determined to explore every opportunity” to “bring down costs and delivery timetables” including reducing the top speeds of trains on the line.
HS2 had been designed to allow trains to run up to 360 km/h (224 mph), which would have made the line faster than any other conventional railway in the world.
Most high-speed trains in the UK run at around 220 km/h, while HS1, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, reaches speeds of up to 300 km/h.
Although it will be years before the railway opens, HS2 is in its peak construction phase.
A number of key structures have been completed, for example the 10-mile tunnel under the Chilterns, and the Colne Valley viaduct.
As part of efforts to get the project back on track, HS2 Ltd has previously said it would slow or pause work such as the line towards Handsacre, so it could focus spend on areas which had fallen behind; notably the central section across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire.
