HS2 scraps Euston station rebuild plans

Plans to demolish and rebuild the UK's sixth busiest railway station for the HS2 high-speed project have been dropped.

Euston station in London will now be developed by improving the existing station.

Eleven new platforms for high-speed trains will be built around the current platforms.

The £16.3bn London to Birmingham section of the rail project is aimed to be running by 2026.

The updated proposals were announced by the HS2 company, responsible for developing and promoting the first phase of the project.

The local Camden Council has voiced concerns not only about the plans for Euston station but also proposals for the area around it.

Euston currently has 18 platforms, with the revised plan retaining platforms 1-15, apart from 9 and 10, which will go to allow for the lengthening of adjacent platforms.

The revised plan also includes a new Euston Tube station ticket hall and a sub-surface pedestrian link between Euston and the nearby Euston Square Underground station.

HS2 chief Alison Munro said: "HS2 will be an engine for growth that supports the creation of thousands of jobs for Londoners, provides extra space on the existing lines for more commuter services, and improved connectivity with our great northern cities.

"We have identified an option that delivers great opportunities for the area while minimising the potential effects on local communities in Camden and on passengers.

"Economic work done as part of Camden Council's plan for the area has demonstrated that there is a case for major redevelopment with the potential for commercial investment, and we want to look at these opportunities with Camden."

'All blight, no benefits'

The leader of Camden Council, Sarah Hayward, said: "The new plans being put forward by HS2 Ltd amount to a shed being bolted on to an existing lean-to.

"Euston stands to have all of the blight with none of the benefits.

"There will be no regeneration or economic benefits while homes will be demolished, communities destroyed and businesses wiped out.

"This entire scheme is ill conceived and poorly planned - and Camden will bear the brunt of HS2's incompetence."

London Mayor Boris Johnson said he would continue to make the "strongest possible case" for using HS2 to regenerate Euston and to provide infrastructure for Crossrail 2.

"There is no earthly point in building a socking great new railway line coming into London, disgorging millions of passengers into Euston and not planning to provide the capacity to handle those passengers and relieve the pressure on the Victoria line."

HS2 chief executive Alison Munro said Euston would be the "gateway to the Midlands and North of England"