London to Manchester high-speed rail 'would cost £27.5 billion'

Date: 11/2/2010

A high-speed rail line between London and Manchester would cost £27.5 billion to construct, according to a new report.

The government would have to find the funding as it is too great a risk for the private sector to take on, the report by PricewatershouseCoopers and seen by the Times stated.

There will be a great deal of pressure for the government to construct the rail network on time and to budget, the report notes.

"Delivery of high-speed infrastructure on time and on budget is probably the biggest risk faced by government and so it would normally wish to transfer this risk to the private sector, it noted, according to the Times.

"In practice, the private sector will not have the financial capacity to take on the level of risk associated with the scale of HSR," the report added.

The Department of Transport is set to publish a white paper in March on the potential costs and routes of a high-speed rail service between London and the West Midlands.

Transport secretary Lord Adonis stated last year that 2010 would be "the year of high-speed rail".