00:00It's called skid and slide. So in effect we push it on skis, for want of a better word, and then we drop it and then we go back and then we push it a little bit more. And we push about 12 metres a night, 6 metres a push. And yeah, in layman's terms, that's what we're doing.
00:18HS2 was initially scheduled to open by the end of next year, but this was later pushed back to between 2029 and 2033. The line was initially supposed to connect London to Birmingham and then on to Manchester with a separate line to Leeds. The whole plan was going to cost £37.5 billion.
00:43In June last year, HS2 Limited assessed the cost for the line between London and Birmingham. The only line that will now be going ahead would be up to £66 billion.
00:54Unsurprisingly, the entire project has come under a huge amount of controversy and has raised serious concerns about infrastructure in Britain, especially when looking at much of continental Europe,
01:09with many countries successfully operating immense high-speed rail networks for decades.
01:19Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said HS2 has incurred significant cost because public bodies have launched nine legal challenges against it.
01:31However, the cabinet minister notes that in almost all cases, the courts have found in favour of the high-speed rail scheme between London and Birmingham.
01:44HS2 Limited was given the power to construct the railway when the High-Speed Rail Act received royal assent in February 2017.
01:55The most recent of the nine legal challenges the project has faced from other public bodies since then was launched by North Warwickshire Borough Council in relation to the extension of the under-construction Bromford Tunnel in May.
02:16The High Court rejected the council's bid for judicial review. Since royal assent was obtained, there have also been 25 appeals relating to the HS2 planning regime.
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