NAO: half of HS2 recommendations implemented

Seven of the 14 recommendations made by the National Audit Office on the HS2 project in 2016 and 2020 have been implemented.

Reporting on progress in June, the NAO explained that some of the outstanding points cannot be implemented “until later in the programme and after key decisions about scope have been made”.

The recommendations were made to HS2 and the Department for Transport. All have been accepted. 

In 2016, the NAO examined preparations for HS2 and found that “HS2 had struggled to meet the overly ambitious timetable set for it by the Department” and that the “programme faced cost and schedule pressures”.

Observations in the subsequent 2020 report included that HS2 Ltd and the DfT “had underestimated the programme’s complexity”.

Read the full story in RAIL 934