Exclusive: Top transport civil servant who oversaw HS2 to step down
Dame Bernadette Kelly, the top civil servant at the Department for Transport (DfT), is to step down after nearly eight years in the role.
A Whitehall veteran with four decades of experience, Kelly was appointed permanent secretary in April 2017 following a stint as director general of the DfT’s rail group.
She led work on a string of major projects including HS2 and the Elizabeth Line, and was awarded a Damehood in 2022 for her services to transport.
Sources with knowledge of the matter told City PM Kelly had decided to step down. According to DfT insiders, her departure is a personal decision to retire after 39 years in the civil service and is planned for June.
Kelly’s exit comes at a critical juncture in the ongoing debacle surrounding HS2, the budget of which remains shrouded in uncertainty but may exceed £80bn.
Ministers and HS2 Ltd, the state-owned body responsible for delivery, are under pressure to produce plans for a “fundamental reset” by summer.
A scathing report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in February concluded HS2 had become a case study in “how not to run a project” and posed a “reputational risk” to the UK.
Kelly has played a central role in delivering the embattled high-speed line, but has faced stern criticism for downplaying its true cost.
In a 2021 letter to the former cabinet secretary Simon Case, Lord Tony Berkeley claimed she had misinformed the PAC about the budget for HS2’s Old Oak Common station in London’s western suburbs.
It later emerged Case had passed on calls for an investigation into her conduct to Kelly herself, who responded that the allegations were baseless. Berkeley, a former civil engineer and deputy chairman of the Oakervee review into the project, resigned from his position as costs spiralled and he concluded the project should be scrapped.
The permanent secretary’s successor faces a gargantuan task to turnaround the mess at HS2.
Officials must find a way to incentivise penny-pinching contractors into re-negotiating a string of lucrative deals labelled as “unacceptable to the public purse.”
There is also a “huge risk” around the DfT’s current plans to deliver HS2’s Euston terminus via the private sector, according to the PAC.
Over a decade since the project was given the green light by ministers, it is still not known how much it will cost.
A DfT spokesperson said: “Bernadette Kelly has ably led the Department for Transport’s civil servants for 8 years, helping numerous Transport Secretaries during this time, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She is proud of the work that she has done to help support a modern transport network delivering for the people of the UK.”