HS2 chair to step down as cost swells to £66bn
The chair of the company behind High Speed Two (HS2) is to stop down next year, it has been announced.
Sir Jon Thompson has served on the board of HS2 Ltd for almost four years after first joining as a non-executive director in April 2021.
He was appointed as the company’s chair in February 2023 and took over the running of the firm in September that year as executive chair following the resignation of chief executive Mark Thurston.
It was announced in May that former Crossrail boss Mark Wild had been hired as HS2’s new chief executive.
HS2 Ltd said the process of recruiting a new chair will start shortly.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, said: “I want to thank Sir Jon for his work over nearly four years to progress Britain’s largest rail project.
“He has provided strong leadership during challenging times for the project, and we are grateful for his service.
“With the appointment of a new CEO and an incoming new Chair, HS2 will see new leadership next year, tasked with gripping budgets and schedules and delivering the line as cost-effectively as possible for passengers and taxpayers.”
Sir Jon started out in local government before joining the Civil Service, working for Ofsted, the Department for Education and Ministry of Defence.
He has previously worked as the chief executive of HMRC and the Financial Reporting Council.
The announcement of Sir Jon’s departure comes days after it was revealed costs for the London Euston section of HS2 have risen to more than £7.5bn, according to confidential government documents shared with the Financial Times.
The National Audit Office (NAO) in 2023 nearly doubled its cost projection for the new station to £4.8bn.
Yet a Department for Transport (DfT) paper, marked “official – sensitive: commercial,” paints a more full picture of how much will need to be drummed up.
It has also been reported that the estimated cost of building the entire HS2 project has risen by £9bn to £66bn.
According to the FT, a DfT report on Tuesday will reference a HS2 board paper from June this year which put cost of the project at between £54bn and £66bn in 2019 prices.