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Rail Infrastructure Update

Statement made on 13 July 2023

Statement UIN HLWS932

Statement

My Right Honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Transport (Mark Harper), has made the following Ministerial Statement:

Yesterday (on Wednesday 12 July), HS2 Ltd announced that its Chief Executive Officer Mark Thurston would step down after six and a half years at the helm of Europe’s largest infrastructure project.

I want to thank him for his work over the last six years on progressing Britain’s most transformative rail project. He successfully oversaw the start of construction and drove the project to full scale with HS2 supporting tens of thousands of jobs, including apprenticeships, across the country. The Government and I are grateful for his service.

HS2 continues to represent a strategic investment into our national infrastructure, connecting our biggest cities and injecting more innovation and skills into the UK’s construction sector.

Mark will leave HS2 Ltd at the end of September this year, when Sir Jon Thompson will become Executive Chair for an interim period while a new Chief Executive is recruited.

Linked statements

This statement has also been made in the House of Commons

Department for Transport
Rail Infrastructure Update
Mr Mark Harper
Secretary of State for Transport
Conservative, Forest of Dean
Statement made 13 July 2023
HCWS947
Commons