HS2 trains will be redesigned to have extra doors on each carriage in a change expected to cost taxpayers millions of pounds.
Documents seen by The Telegraph revealed that HS2 Ltd, the company behind the £57 billion-and-counting project, has formally requested a design change for the line’s 225mph trains. The redesign will shorten the time the trains spend on platforms waiting for passengers to alight and board.
Industry sources said they expected that changing the design of the carriages to include two doors would be in the tens of millions of pounds.
Earlier this year Sir Jon Thompson, HS2’s executive chairman, revealed that the project’s budget had spiralled to £57 billion. It was originally planned to cost £37.5 billion.
HS2 has been beset by multi-billion pound budget overruns. Last year Rishi Sunak, then prime minister, cancelled construction of its northern leg between Birmingham and Manchester.
At the time the decision was intended to save around £35 billion, but it was revealed in July that shortening the railway line cost £2 billion.
‘Future-proofed’
William Barter, a rail planning consultant, said that it was “probable” that redesigning the 54 HS2 trains would cost tens of millions of pounds.
“I think the original contract price was regarded as good for the government. So I suspect that here it’s not going to be particularly generous about variation orders,” he added.
An HS2 spokesman acknowledged that the company had requested the design change, adding that new platform edge doors (PEDs) similar to the Elizabeth Line had been “future-proofed”.
Procurement of the doors started last year, according to HS2’s own publicity material. The trains themselves will not be built until 2027.
Rail consultant Mr Barter said that adding a second door to each of the six-carriage-long trains would shorten dwell times, which is the amount of time that the train spends standing at the platform while people get on and off.
“Assuming that we actually build the railway through to Euston, Old Oak Common would be a two-minute dwell time, during which about a third of the passengers, according to modelling, would change there for the Elizabeth Line,” he said.
Spread passsengers evenly
Standing will reportedly be banned on HS2 with tickets being sold only for reserved seats. Mr Barter explained that a booked-seat-only policy could help spread passengers evenly inside each carriage, decreasing the time each train spends at platforms.
A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: “Our trains are in the detailed design phase with HS2’s contract joint venture Hitachi–Alstom prior to the start of production at sites across the Midlands and northern England.
“HS2 will provide a step-change in the passenger experience. In development for over a decade as an entire rail system, it is designed for the long term with its constituent parts like trains, stations, platforms, tunnels and signalling specified to operate seamlessly together to provide a comfortable and punctual service.”
Both Hitachi Rail and Alstom declined to comment.
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