Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the review today which will be the foundation for a decision on "whether and how we proceed" with HS2. The review will assemble and test all the existing evidence in order to allow the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Transport and the government to make properly-informed decisions on the future of Phases 1 and 2 of the project, including the estimated cost and schedule position.

For the review teams terms of reference follow this link.

Tom Burridge, BBC Transport Correspondent, says:

"The key question is, is HS2 value for money? One former senior figure at the Treasury said to me recently that in terms of that it scores much lower than many other projects, so the government is taking quite a big risk putting so much money into it.

The government could cancel it - but, of course, the main caveat to that is the amount that has already been spent and would be lost. For all the opposition to it, HS2 also has a lot of passionate supporters too and they would be unhappy.

Rather than scrapping it altogether then, perhaps the more plausible option is altering the plans in some way."

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

The review is due in the autumn with a decision to be made by the end of the year by the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Transport Secretary. 

Read more about the HS2 review in today's TP News.

Source: www.gov.uk