The Department for Transport (DfT) has spent more than £1.25 billion on services related to the canceled second phase of HS2, according to recently analysed, bills.
The biggest beneficiary was Arup, which received £272.8m from March 2016 for ground reference, design services and environmental services.
Invoices paid by project contracting body HS2 Limited were analyzed by public sector consultancy Tussell. First Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed the high-speed line would not pass over Birmingham at the Conservative Party Conference last Wednesday (October 4).
Other contractors who received large sums for work on the scrapped railway project include Balfour Beatty (£192m), Bechtel (£78m) and Kier (£43m). A joint venture between Mace and Ward Williams received £243m. Aecom, which was the project’s ground research partner, received £95.1m.
The DfT also paid £1.2m to a joint venture between Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering and Carillion, which collapsed in January 2018. The money was paid in August 2018 for engineering services for Phase 2nd from Birmingham to Crewe, which stopped for two years. in March 2023 before being completely scrapped last week.
Around a sixth of the total (£219m) was spent on assets under construction in Phase 2a, Tussell found.
The last invoice was paid in May this year to Network Rail for design services and early contractor engagement works relating to the Crewe section.
