Because the UK rail industry appears unable to engineer and deliver HS2 at anything approaching a reasonable cost, or at costs even remotely close to other countries. If the UK rail industry had been able to deliver what was originally promised at somewhere even vaguely near to the original cost estimates, then HS2 would still be going ahead in full, it's the failure to control costs which has killed it.
Point of order.
UK construction industry not UK rail industry.
And Road Construction has seen similar eyewatering cost increases.
Could it be something to do with the blizzard of legislation over the last thirty years, much of it laudibly aimed at improving construction safety but having the side effect that exhaustive documentation is required to prove negatives which has created a vast industry in its wake of highly paid paper producers.
Just short of 40 years ago when I started, the documentation was not much more than the bits of the rulebook that applied to you and engineering drawings.
When I started 80% of the project costs were the labour to do it and 20% the labour to do the drawings, surveys and permissions.
Now about 80% is the labour to do the drawings, instruction documents, surveys, permissions, regulatory compliances, environmental impact, RIMINI paperwork and about 20% to actually do it. And guess which lot gets paid more.
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