New allegations have been published against those responsible for the HS2 high-speed rail (HSR) project. Officials are suspected of having destroyed documents and used misleading forecasts to conceal the real costs of the project. This is according to an investigation by The Times, based on information from whistleblowers and internal documents. The estimated cost of the project had risen from around €57 billion (GB£50 billion) originally to more than €114 billion, with the north-western section alone costing €41 billion more than the entire 2010 estimate. The allegations were revealed after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stopped the project due to increasing costs. An internal fraud unit of HS2 is now investigating the allegations. The project promoter HS2 denies any wrongdoing.
