Mayor of London says HS2 at Euston is ‘looking increasingly positive’

Sadiq Khan struck an optimistic tone this week about the prospect of the High Speed 2 rail line reaching Euston.

In a briefing to journalists the mayor said it is “looking increasingly positive” that the multi-billion pound railway will terminate in the city centre, rather than at Old Oak Common.

It comes after the Sunday Times reported last week that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is preparing to approve plans for the required 4.5-mile tunnel link and for an overhaul of Euston station itself.

A Government source told the newspaper: “HS2 just wouldn’t work if the terminus was not at Euston. The station is also well overdue for investment and has become a dystopian mess and a stain on London.”

The question of whether HS2 would reach Euston became less certain in October last year, when the then-PM Rishi Sunak announced that the link from Old Oak Common and the construction of a new station at Euston — together estimated to cost £4.8bn, having ballooned from an original budget of £2.6bn — would instead be built using private finance.

But Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, poured cold water on the proposal, saying that the Government will still “need to be ready to fund the core civil engineering” works.

Khan has said: “In my first two terms as mayor, it would’ve been unthinkable to call a minister, pitch an idea and for them to then approve it.

“But this government — not yet three months old — has already consented to our plans to build 350 new homes at Cockfosters station and to breathe new life into Oxford Street.

“And while I don’t want to tempt fate, it’s looking increasingly positive that HS2 will come to Euston. This — for me — is but a glimpse of the London we can build.”

If the Chancellor does back the Euston link in her upcoming Budget, it remains unclear whether the Government will retain Sunak’s slimmed-down plans for a six-platform HS2 terminus or reinstate the original blueprint for an 11-platform layout, with a new Tube station.

Realising those projects will be partly dependent on Transport for London (TfL) securing a long-term funding deal, which Khan says is necessary “to give us the capacity to reach for the future once again”.

The mayor is also pledging to “protect the Crossrail 2 route” so the project to link north and south London via Tottenham Court Road can be realised.

The clearance of the land in and around Euston station has caused misery for those residents who had to move out of their homes and those left living next to the huge demolition site.

“If the government does seek to restore the project it will be a huge new billion-pound-plus public purse commitment,” stated an editorial in this week’s Camden New Journal.

“This at a time when the government is supposedly showing us it is being forced into ‘tough decisions’ like axing the winter fuel allowance and the two-child benefit cap.”

Keir Starmer voted against the project before he became leader of the Labour Party. But Chancellor Rachel Reeves now looks set to commit a huge amount of public money to it.

Camden Council, meanwhile, favours a locally led Development Corporation to lead the regeneration of Euston, “with Camden in a leadership role, working alongside the community and key partners”.

Camden says it will “continue to advocate for a local and inclusive approach to regeneration at Euston”.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.