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HS2 has begun a full programme reset which may not be complete for more than a year, MPs were told this week.

Senior leaders on the project from the Department for Transport (DfT) and the delivery body itself were subjected to a grilling by the public accounts committee yesterday over the scheme鈥檚 rising costs.

Bernadette Kelly, permanent secretary at the DfT, said the department had been working on an 鈥渁ccurate and robust cost range鈥� for the scheme since last October, when the previous prime minister made swingeing cuts to the project.

She told MPs that the DfT still did not have such an estimate.

HS2 Ltd, the delivery body responsible for the high-speed scheme, has provided its own upwardly revised estimate of 拢54bn to 拢66bn, which was published in a statement to parliament earlier this week.

But Kelly said this was an 鈥渦nassured figure鈥� and that the department does note regard it as 鈥渁 reliable and agreed cost estimate鈥�.

She added: 鈥淲e have to break this cycle of cost escalation on this programme, once and for all鈥� and made it clear that the scheme was engaged in a 鈥渨hole programme reset鈥� which would run 鈥渨ell into 2025鈥� and would not be completed in time for the spending review.

HS2 Ltd has recently undergone a change of leadership, with former Crossrail chief Mark Wild taking over as chief executive at the start of the month.

In his first appearance in front of the committee in his new role, Wild acknowledged that HS2 in its 鈥渃ore mission to control costs [and] deliver this for the lowest feasible costs has failed鈥�.

He also set out his views on how the project had ended up experiencing such severe cost overruns, explaining that 鈥渃onstruction started way too early on this project鈥�. 

He continued: 鈥淭he rush to start before mature design consents was really, in retrospect, a mistake.

鈥淪econdly, the contract intrinsically moved the risk to HS2 Ltd to manage. It was a conscious and intrinsic decision reviewed quite expertly by the NAO at the time, and the NAO at the time commented that HS2 Ltd must be prepared to manage this change of risk profile. I believe HS2 Ltd has not managed the risk profile in an optimal way.鈥�

Wild indicated that the reassessment of the project might take even longer than Kelly had suggested, saying that the 鈥渞eality is it won鈥檛 be until mid-2026 that we will be sitting here with an assured baseline that could be properly measured against鈥�.

He added: 鈥淭hat may seem an extraordinary amount of time, but as the [committee] chair will remember in Crossrail, I actually got this wrong at the beginning of Crossrail.

鈥淲e tried to set the baseline within six months and it was proven to be too optimistic.鈥�

Asked whether HS2 Ltd would apologise for the 拢100m bat protection structure at Sheephouse Wood, which has been a major source of controversy, Wild said he was unable to do so.

He said that, while he could 鈥渦nderstand why [it] would raise public concern鈥�, he could not apologise for complying with the law and said the structure remained the most appropriate one with which to do so.