00:00Safety tests would need to wait until the new railway line between London and Birmingham was
00:05finished, or that trains would need to be sent abroad for testing. Heidi Alexander said this
00:12approach could increase costs and delay the completion of the project. She said she had
00:17commissioned Mark Wilde, HS2's chief executive, to report back to her before the summer about the
00:23possibility of running trains at slower speeds. The High Speed 2 boss said he made a commitment
00:29to the transport secretary that he would regain control of HS2 and bring an end to the project's
00:35cost increases. He also said speed has never been the primary objective and claimed the railway will
00:42deliver better journeys, more capacity on the network and economic growth. High Speed trains
00:48are those running at at least 250km per hour, generally on a dedicated railway track.
00:55China and Spain have such trains running at 350km per hour. The current maximum speed on the UK's
01:02conventional rail lines is 200km per hour, while Channel Tunnel Services, also known as HS1,
01:10run at 300km per hour. HS2's primary aim, when proposed, was to increase rail capacity between
01:18London, Birmingham and major cities further north by moving fast intercity services off the existing
01:25conventional railways and onto the new line.
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