The former HS1, Crossrail and Eurostar boss, Rob Holden, said he applied to work on the high-speed rail project but was rejected by a "senior official" in the Department for Transport.
Mr Holden said he was surprised by the decision as his work on HS1 saw it “come in on time and under budget”. His comments come as Rishi Sunak prepares to scrap the northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, weeks after The Independent revealed secret plans to do so.
The former HS1 chief executive said HS2 was always “illconceived” because it was designed to run at an “inappropriate speed” for the UK: originally 400km/h, since cut to 360km/h. Mr Holden said most high-speed lines in Europe run at 300km/h, with the costs of going much faster becoming “exponentially higher”.
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