As of the latest official updates in mid‑2025, HS2 has cost just over £40 billion in cash terms so far, with the Department for Transport and subsequent reports putting the total spent at about £40.5 billion on the project to date.

Quick Scoop: HS2 cost so far

  • The UK government’s earlier six‑monthly reports showed around £24–27 billion spent by early 2023, mostly on Phase 1 (London–Birmingham).
  • Updated figures given to Parliament and reported in 2025 state that total spending has now reached about £40.5 billion , including money already spent on the now‑cancelled northern legs.
  • Of that £40.5 billion, roughly:
    • £26.4 bn on civils (tunnels, earthworks, major structures)
* £3.6 bn on land and property

* £2.3 bn on stations

* £2 bn on systems

* plus further billions on indirect costs and work on the cancelled sections.

Why the number keeps changing

  • Earlier public debate often cited figures like “£27 billion spent so far”, which were accurate up to around 2023 but are out of date now.
  • Costs are reported in different price bases (for example 2019 prices vs “cash”/nominal), which makes the total look different depending on which measure you use; the £40.5 billion is a cash‑terms figure for money actually spent.

What’s still to come

  • Even after spending more than £40 billion, the line between London and Birmingham is still under construction, with civil works only part‑completed and further multi‑billion budgets agreed for work into the late 2020s.
  • Forecast total costs for what remains of HS2 (mainly London–Birmingham after the northern legs were cancelled) are still under review and could rise further, with senior project figures warning of potential very large overruns relative to original budgets.

In short: if you’re asking “how much has HS2 cost so far?”, the current ballpark answer is around £40.5 billion actually spent , not the £100 billion figure sometimes thrown around online.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.