Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether HS2 Ltd used (1) HS2: A Guide to Tunnelling Costs, published by HS2 Ltd on 11 June 2015, and (2) the Infrastructure Cost Review by HM Treasury and Infrastructure UK, published on 21 December 2010, as benchmarks for estimating the costs of the Wendover Short-Mined Tunnel proposal.

HS2 Ltd used both of the reports referred to at (1) and (2) as guides to the development of cost estimates for the tunnels on the Phase One route. Both reports are principally focussed on bored tunnels, and their application to cost estimate development for a mined tunnel would be limited. HS2 Ltd did however develop a bottom-up cost estimate of a mined tunnel in the Wendover area, to aid options analysis.

When proposals for a mined tunnel at Wendover were re-submitted to the Department by mbpc Ltd on behalf of Wendover Parish Council after Royal Assent had been granted, HS2 Ltd subsequently undertook a separate comparative line by line cost analysis of the mbpc proposal, prior to the Department rejecting the mined tunnel proposal in 2018.

Producing a further bottom-up estimate with contractor involvement (following the Main Works Civils Contracts award in July 2017) was rejected in October 2018 on the grounds of cost, and this was communicated in writing to the constituency MP at that time.