Britain’s HS2 rail link will start at London’s Euston despite the costs involved, a government minister has indicated.
Huge cost overruns had led to speculation that expansion from Old Oak in west London to Euston might be scrapped permanently as part of the government’s money-saving programme.
But transport secretary Louise Haigh said that starting the HS2 at Old Oak would be nonsensical.
Haigh told the BBC: "It would make absolutely no sense to build a £66bn high-speed line between Old Oak Common and Birmingham."
Rishi Sunak’s government said private money would have to pay for any extension after it pulled government funding for the Euston leg last year, adding it would save £6.5bn of taxpayer's cash.
Haigh said: "Even under the previous government’s chopped and changed and discredited plans for HS2 Euston was always going to be part of the solution."
The government’s last estimate linking Birmingham to London is between £45bn and £54bn.
Haigh did not indicate how the Euston extension would be funded.