Britain's first high-speed railway, HS1, came perilously close to being cancelled by government ministers just months before the Channel Tunnel's grand opening, newly released documents reveal.
A £1 Billion Black Hole
In January 1994, Transport Minister John MacGregor wrote a confidential memo to the then-Chancellor, Ken Clarke, outlining a severe financial crisis facing the project. Officials had uncovered a staggering £1 billion shortfall in the funding for the line intended to connect London to the Channel Tunnel.
MacGregor admitted that the government had drastically underestimated the amount of taxpayer money required for the public-private partnership and overestimated the social benefits the railway would bring. This left the entire ambitious infrastructure scheme in serious jeopardy.
The Drastic Solution: Abandonment
Faced with this financial abyss, MacGregor presented the Cabinet with three potential solutions. Alongside increasing public borrowing, he explicitly listed "abandoning the project" as a viable option.
This would have meant Eurostar services running indefinitely from their original, slower London terminus at Waterloo Station. This was despite the fact that the preferred, purpose-built high-speed hub at St Pancras had already received official approval three years earlier, in 1991.
In his memo, MacGregor acknowledged that scrapping HS1 would constitute "an immense blow to the prestige of both the nation and of the government." He also voiced a stark warning about the UK's international reputation, noting that the contrast with France's already operational high-speed network would attract fierce criticism.
Senior Ministers Rally to Save the Line
The proposal to axe the project, then known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, sparked strong opposition from within the Conservative government itself. The National Archives files show a string of replies from senior figures arguing vociferously for its survival.
Then-President of the Board of Trade, Michael Heseltine, stated the link was "essential" to reap the full economic benefits of the Channel Tunnel and to deliver regeneration for East London and the Thames Corridor. He concluded that abandonment could not be justified.
Environment Secretary John Gummer gave an even blunter assessment, warning that cancellation would "completely undermine" efforts to keep London as a leading world city and would have "severe repercussions" from the party's own supporters.
Despite the eleventh-hour reprieve, the £7.3 billion HS1 line, which finally opened in 2007, has faced ongoing scrutiny. It slashed journey times to Paris by over 40 minutes and increased capacity, but a recent government review concluded it provided "poor value for money," and it has been criticised by regulators for delays and cancellations.
The revelation that its very existence hung in the balance months before Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand inaugurated the Channel Tunnel in 1994 underscores the fragile and contentious nature of major UK transport projects.
