Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has announced that the maximum speed of trains on HS2 will be 320km/h, instead of 360km/h. The cost of the line is now expected to be somewhere between 87.7 million and 102.7 billion pounds. The transport secretary said she was setting out plans for a ‘fundamental reset’ which was intended to complete the project as soon as possible.

Passengers on West Midlands Trains are being advised to travel only if they must between 21 and 23 May, because of industrial action by members of TSSA. The dispute is about payments for rest day working, which the union says are not in line with the pay for members of other unions.