Rail chiefs demand additional prepare doorways for HS2 as prices rise once more

Rail chiefs have demanded that the upcoming HS2 trains be redesigned to include extra doors, according to reports.

The move is expected to add ‘tens of millions’ to the final bill of the project which has already seen spiralling costs during its lengthy planning stages.

It was revealed earlier this year the project’s budget had risen to £57billion but was originally planned to cost £37.5billion. 

The development is the latest blow to taxpayers in a long-running saga of expenses, despite then prime minister Rishi Sunak cancelling the construction of its northern leg between Birmingham and Manchester last year to cut costs.

At the time the decision was intended to save around £35billion, but it was revealed in July that the decision cost £2billion in fees to carry out.

Rail chiefs have demanded that the upcoming HS2 trains be redesigned to include extra doors. Pictured: An artist impression of the trains which will not be built until 2027

Rishi Sunak axed the Northern sections of the huge HS2 rail project last year 

An aerial view of the Birmingham HS2 station construction site in January

The latest design change will add on extra doors to each carriage of the line’s 225mph trains which will shorten the time the trains spend on platforms waiting for passengers to alight and board.

HS2 Ltd, the company behind the troubled project, put forward the changes in a document, seen by The Telegraph.

An HS2 spokesman acknowledged to the paper that the company had requested the design change, adding that new platform edge doors (PEDs) were similar to the Elizabeth Line and had been ‘future-proofed’. 

William Barter, a rail planning consultant, suggested the redesign would cost tens of millions of pounds.

Although procurement of the doors started last year, the trains themselves will not be built until 2027.

The plans for HS2 will ban standing and only allow tickets to be sold only for reserved seats. 

A rail consultant claims this policy is designed to help spread passengers evenly inside each carriage, decreasing the time each train spends at platforms with passengers getting off and on.

Construction work continues on the HS2 site in Euston in February

Rachel Reeves refused to rule out reviving the Northern leg of HS2 last month

In January Sir Keir Starmer warned he could not ‘commit to reversing’ the government’s decision on HS2

HS2 Ltd said in a statement: ‘Our trains are in the detailed design phase with HS2’s contract joint venture Hitachi–Alstom prior to the start of production at sites across the Midlands and northern England.

‘HS2 will provide a step-change in the passenger experience. In development for over a decade as an entire rail system, it is designed for the long term with its constituent parts like trains, stations, platforms, tunnels and signalling specified to operate seamlessly together to provide a comfortable and punctual service.’

However there could be more changes to HS2 upcoming. Last month the Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves refused to rule out reviving the Northern leg of HS2.

She said at the time: ‘On HS2, I was really clear in opposition that we are not going to make any promises without saying where the money is going to come from. That is not going to change now I am Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

‘I am not going to make any commitments without being able to say where the money is going to come from.’

In January Sir Keir Starmer warned he could not ‘commit to reversing’ the government’s decision on HS2.

He said it was ‘not possible to do HS2’ as the government had ‘blown the budget’.

‘Contracts are going to be cancelled,’ he said.