‘The one certain thing that extending HS2 to Euston will achieve is to add substantial addition to the line’s overall cost’

AMONG HS2’s many disastrous fixations, a conspicuous one has been its determination that the line should reach Euston, combined with an inability to solve the complex engineering and planning problems involved in achieving this.

Euston is still heralded as High Speed 2’s London terminus, most recently in chancellor Rachel Reeves’s budget, in which she stated that she would make money available for tunnelling from Old Oak Common to Euston.

But is Euston the right terminus?

A great deal has always been made of the need for HS2 to reach “central London”’.

Euston, however, is not central London and is, in itself, except as a station, not an important destination.

Historically, the siting of all the major north London stations was restricted to north of the Marylebone and Euston roads to prevent the railways extending into the centre of the city.

The Euston Road still represents a barrier to travellers going to or leaving Euston station.

A key question about whether Euston or Old Oak Common should be HS2’s London terminus is at present unanswered.

This is the time it will take passengers to reach their final destinations in what is genuinely central London.

If it is faster to reach most destinations via Euston, this is an important argument in Euston’s favour. If it is faster to reach most destinations via Old Oak Common, this is a strong argument against making Euston the London terminus.

There is no point prioritising speed between London and Birmingham if the time gain is lost at either end.

If, however, the time improvement in reaching destinations inside central London via Euston is minimal, or indeed negative, extending the line to Euston at a cost of billions is mad.

Old Oak Common, although clearly further from central London than Euston, is being purpose built as a major interchange.

This includes being either a stop or the southern terminus for all HS2 trains. It will be completed many years before any HS2 station at Euston and will easily be able to cope with the passengers boarding HS2’s trains or arriving on them, unlike Euston.

Since HS2 was first planned, the Elizabeth line, which will have Old Oak Common as a stop, has opened. There is no doubt that the line is a game changer in terms of many journeys inside London.

The potential importance of its contribution to the debate about where HS2 should terminate was almost certainly undervalued at the time of the passing of HS2’s hybrid bill.

It is therefore absurd now not to revisit the issue of the Elizabeth line’s ability to help solve the question.

Simply by running more trains the Elizabeth line can cope with any additional capacity far more easily than the cramped and already overcrowded Euston.

At present, however, there is an astonishing lack of information available from the Department for Transport about comparative onward journey times via Euston and via Old Oak Common.

If these timings exist, they should be made public without delay.

If not, travel times on HS2 and on the Elizabeth line, plus subsequent tube journeys, should be easy to establish, although any assumptions about waiting times and walking times need to be made clear and not be weighted in favour of one or the other.

While other central London destinations for comparison may be preferred, I suggest the following ones: Bank, Chelsea, Covent Garden, Farringdon, Fleet Street, Holborn, Hyde Park Corner, Kensington, Liverpool Street, Marble Arch, Moorgate, Paddington, Piccadilly, Oxford Circus, St Paul’s, Sloane Square, Tottenham Court Road, Trafalgar Square, Victoria and Westminster.

There is also a second key question.

It is extraordinary that more has not been made of the fact that the HS2 station to the west of Euston mainline station is being built at the latter’s expense.

Early on in the planning process the attempt to integrate the two stations was abandoned.

If HS2’s station, still unfinalised, is built at the side of the existing station, it will prevent the badly needed rebuilding of the latter, as any rebuild will be incompatible with keeping mainline services running.

This, in turn, will minimise the area available for development, as greater development potential is available on the east side of Euston than on the west.

HS2’s costs are already out of control and ludicrously disproportionate to the benefits it will deliver.

The one certain thing that extending HS2 to Euston will achieve is to add substantial addition to the line’s overall cost.

An unrealistic vision of profitable development, combined with an unwillingness to return property taken for a station that may never be built, has prevented government from admitting that Euston is the wrong terminus for HS2, while failing conspicuously to address the urgent need to replace the current station.

• Historian Martin Sheppard lives in NW1.