HS2 costs could balloon to eyewatering £86BILLION

The cost of building HS2 could hit £66billion – a £9billion increase on the previous estimate.

But if inflation is taken into account the latest figure would be closer to £80billion.

Transport ministers confirmed the new calculation in a written statement last night from figures provided by the HS2 board.

It marks a huge hike from last November, when the Government estimated the cost will be up to £57billion in 2019 prices.

The cost only covers the beleaguered high-speed rail scheme being built between London and Birmingham. It was originally to also run to Manchester and Leeds after forking into 'western' and 'eastern' legs at Birmingham.

But Rishi Sunak scrapped the western leg last year amid concerns the price would exceed £100billion. The eastern leg was ditched by Boris Johnson in 2021.

The Birmingham to London trains were originally due to begin in 2026. But this now won't happen until at least the mid-2030s.

The project initially had a price tag of just over £30billion, which included building the eastern and western legs.

Yesterday it also emerged that HS2's chairman is to step down in the New Year.

Sir Jon Thompson was appointed only in February 2023. It comes after new Chief Executive, Mark Wild, joined the project.

In November, it was revealed that HS2 had blown £100million alone on a steel mesh 'shed' to protect bats from being hit by the high speed trains.

Its former executive chairman chairman Sir Jon Thompson told a rail industry conference the structure in Buckinghamshire is needed to appease Natural England because bats are legally protected in the UK.

This is despite there being 'no evidence' that the trains will interfere with the mammals, he said.

He claimed this is an example of the UK's 'genuine problem' with completing major infrastructure projects.

The publicly-owned company built the structure alongside woodland to protect the Bechstein's bat, which is very rare in the UK.

Sir John said the bat problem is was just one example of issues contributing to HS2's spiralling costs.

The Tory Government binned half of the rail line to save money and the enormous cost has created a running headache for both governments.

Speaking about the bat measure, Sir Jon said: 'We call it a shed. This shed, you're not going to believe this, cost more than £100m to protect the bats in this wood.'

The curved structure will run for around one kilometre (0.6 miles) alongside Sheephouse Wood, creating a barrier allowing bats to cross above the high-speed railway without being affected by passing trains.

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HS2 blows £100m on 'shed' for bats - despite 'no evidence high-speed trains interfere' with them

Other more expensive options, including a bored tunnel and re-routing the railway away from the wood, were considered during the passage of the High Speed Two (London to West Midlands) Act through Parliament.

After receiving the go ahead from Natural England for the design, HS2 Ltd was forced to spend 'hundreds of thousands of pounds' on lawyers and environmental specialists because the local council did not approve the work, Sir Jon said.

'In the end I won the planning permission by going above Bedfordshire County Council's head,' he explained.

Natural England's Oliver Harmar said at the time: 'We have not required HS2 to adopt this structure, nor advised on design or cost. Our input has been to comment on whether the proposed mitigations will work. That is our duty under the Habitats Regulations.

'HS2 Ltd is required by legislation to avoid harm to the environment and it is for them to make choices and factor in costs.'