UK’s first high-speed railway HS1 faced cancellation months before Channel Tunnel opening
Ministers considered abandoning the High Speed 1 (HS1), the UK’s first high-speed railway that links London to the Channel Tunnel amid financial struggles just months before the cross-channel line was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, City PM can reveal.
According to correspondence released by the National Archives, transport minister John MacGregor listed axing the high-speed project from St Pancras to Ashford as one of three solutions to a £1bn black hole that had emerged in the project’s funding in 1994.
The move, which was mooted in a memo to then-Chancellor Ken Clarke in January, would have seen the Eurostar operated from its original London terminus at Waterloo indefinitely, despite the preferred St Pancras hub having already been given the green light three years earlier.
MacGregor, who was given a peerage in 2001, told Clarke that officials had underestimated the amount of taxpayer cash required for the multi-billion-pound public-private partnership and overestimated the social benefits of the line.
The shortfall left a £1bn gap, putting the ambitious infrastructure project in jeopardy.
Among other options, which included plugging the shortfall with higher public sector borrowing, the minister listed “abandoning the project” as one solution, notwithstanding that it constituted “an immense blow to the prestige of both the nation and of the government”.
He also voiced concern that the contrasting service passengers would experience on either side of the channel would reflect poorly on the UK, given the French high-speed railway infrastructure was already up and running.
“The contrast with the new line on the other side of the Channel [in France] would attract even more criticism than it does already,” he wrote.
High-speed railway HS1 slashed Eurostar journey times
The £7.3bn HS1 was eventually completed in 2007, becoming Britain’s first high-speed rail service.
The rail route connects the Channel Tunnel line to Calais with London, as well as providing domestic connections into Kent and the South East.
Between the Channel Tunnel’s launch in 1994 and the completion of HS1, the Eurostar operated from Waterloo on a slower line.
Despite adding capacity to rail services in south east England and cutting the journey time to Paris by over 40 minutes, HS1 has attracted fierce criticism for its economic and operational performance.
Earlier this year, an official government review concluded the project had provided “poor value for money”. And it has been blighted by delays and cancellations, for which it was censured by the rail regulator.
MacGregor sent his memo outlining the options for the future of the railway line just months before the Channel Tunnel and Eurostar were due to be opened at ceremonies attended by Queen Elizabeth II and French President Fracois Mitterrand.
The letter sparked a string of replies from senior ministers, the reveal, including from then-environment secretary John Gummer and former deputy prime minister Michael Hesteltine. Both argued vociferously against abandoning the line, which was then called the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
Hesteltine, who was then president of the Board of Trade, said: “The provision of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is essential both to ensure that the full gain for the economy from the Channel Tunnel is obtained, and to derive the regeneration benefits for the East of London and the East Thames Corridor generally which underlay our decision to adopt the Eastern route. I agree fully therefore that abandonment of the project at this stage would not be justified.”
Gummer argued that cancelling HS1 would “completely undermine” [the UK’s] efforts for London to retain its place as a world city, and said it would have “severe repercussions” from Conservative supporters.