# HS2: How difficult is it to build a £100bn railway?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/crashed-7542126/hs2-how-difficult-is-it-to-build-a-100bn-railway
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/crashed-7542126/hs2-how-difficult-is-it-to-build-a-100bn-railway.md
Podcast: [Crashed](https://stenobird.com/podcast/crashed-7542126)
Published: 2026-05-21T05:45:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/crashed/episodes/hs2-how-difficult-can-it-be-to-build-a-railway
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68f22ac7ca0e7f7545c5ecea/e/6a0dcd97a9d3d2ec1446e8a4/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/crashed-7542126/episodes/hs2-how-difficult-is-it-to-build-a-100bn-railway
Duration seconds: 2981

## Resource

Britain’s next-generation high-speed rail network (HS2) was going to lay 530km of track, offer speeds of up to 225mph, cost around £33bn, and launch in 2026, when it was announced in 2012.  Now in 2026, it’ll cost up to £103bn, be under half the length (225km), slower, and won’t be completed until, potentially, 2043.  It’s gone laughably wrong. Even the government calls it “the world’s most expensive slow-motion car crash”.  Presenters Alex Hudson and Chris Stokel-Walker interview transport expert Adam Tyndall about how a slow-motion car crash is possible on a railway, exactly what’s gone wrong and why a bat tunnel costs £100m (yes, it does relate to HS2). Elsewhere, how much EU can an EU EU if an EU is in the EU? Brussels is preparing the Chips Act 2.0 for a reported launch on 27 May, as part of the wider Tech Sovereignty Package. They want to double Europe’s global semiconductor market share to 20% by 2030.  Chris is heading to Europe to find out if that’s possible (though we both think we know the answer). Follow Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtyndall/ To support, go to https://bit.ly/CrashedPodcast or search Crashed podcast Follow: Alex: www.instagram.com/alexhuds / www.tiktok.com/@alexhuds Chris: www.instagram.com/cstokelwalker  / www.tiktok.com/@st0kel Spotify: https://bit.ly/CrashedSpotify Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4qkgmmV RSS: https://bit.ly/CrashedRSS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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