HS2 boss took home £4.5m during ‘appalling mess' of project

Times

4 hours ago

The former chief of HS2 took home £4.5 million of taxpayers' money while presiding over an 'appalling mess' of a project that wasted billions.
Mark Thurston was at the helm of the disgraced scheme for six and a half years before leaving in September 2023 and then becoming chief executive of Anglian Water.
He has been banned by ministers from receiving a bonus at the water company for the last financial year because it was found to have polluted our rivers.
While at HS2, Thurston's pay ranged from £585,000 to £676,000 a year including bonuses and other taxable benefits. During his time at the government-owned company he took home £4,449,977.
He joined HS2 in 2017, shortly after parliament signed off the building of the project's first phase. He previously worked on the 2012 London Olympics and Crossrail, now the Elizabeth Line, the heavily delayed new railway through central London.
Thurston's oversight of HS2 was put under the spotlight this week when his successor's initial findings into the failures of the project were published.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, told the Commons on Wednesday that the scheme had become an 'appalling mess' after years of mismanagement.
She said: 'It gives me no pleasure to deliver news like this. Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been wasted by constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and bad management.'
Mark Wild, who took over the running of HS2 in December last year, has been carrying out a root and branch review of the scheme in an bid to stem ballooning costs and restore proper oversight.
Wild's salary will be declared in accounts published this summer although his base salary is said to be lower than Thurston's.
The project was originally due to cost £32.7 billion — in 2011 prices — with the first leg between London and the Midlands opening in late 2026. The pared-back scheme could now cost more than £100 billion.
In a letter to Alexander, published on Wednesday, Wild said: 'The position I have inherited in HS2 Ltd is unacceptable; the organisation has failed in its mission to control costs and deliver to schedule.'
It was announced that Thurston, 58, was leaving HS2 in July 2023. He said the project was the 'highlight of my career', adding: 'I have agreed with the board that someone else should lead the organisation and programme through what will be another defining period for HS2.'
His appointment to Anglian Water, which he joined in July last year, caused much comment, not least because of government criticisms of the financial stewardship of HS2. Responding in November last year, he told The Times: 'If customers want to challenge my appointment, all I can say is that it was a very thorough and comprehensive process.
'The board clearly thought I was a good fit. They have to account for that and only time will tell whether it was a good appointment.'
Transport bosses are traditionally the highest paid public servants in the country, with those in the rail industry in particular receiving the biggest remuneration packages.
The last time the Cabinet Office reported on senior civil service pay was in 2023 with figures for the previous year. The list was not updated in 2024 by the Conservatives before the election.
It revealed that the 45 highest paid staff at HS2 had a combined pay packet of £8.9 million. Of the top 20 best paid, only six still work at the company three years later. It is understood that many senior executives left the company after Rishi Sunak cancelled the northern leg of the project in October 2023.
A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: ' Mark Wild is leading a comprehensive reset of HS2 to ensure the project can be delivered for the lowest reasonable cost. This includes reviewing and simplifying the structure of HS2 Ltd itself — putting more focus on front-line delivery of the railway and bearing down on unnecessary costs.
'This year, we have frozen pay and withheld all bonuses for staff in the highest grades at HS2 Ltd.'