Guardian corrects HS2 cost, bat tunnel species and station details

In its 16 December feature on the impact and costs of HS2, The Guardian misreported several factual details, prompting corrections after publication. These errors involved the construction cost of HS1, the species protected by a bat mitigation structure, and the description of a railway station’s service pattern.

The original article stated that the cost of building High Speed 1 (HS1) — the London to Channel Tunnel high-speed railway — was £51 million per mile. That figure was taken from earlier government estimates; however, a government-commissioned report published in 2015 found the actual cost to be about £90 million per mile, excluding the cost of remodelling King’s Cross St Pancras station. Framing the cost at £51 million per mile understated the documented final figure by a substantial margin.

The piece also misidentified the purpose of the Sheephouse Wood “bat tunnel”. The structure was described as being designed to protect the barbastelle bat, but it was in fact created to safeguard the rare Bechstein’s bat. While both are UK bat species, they have different conservation statuses and habitat requirements, making the specific identification important in reporting on environmental mitigation for HS2.

Finally, the article said that Aylesbury Vale Parkway station was “a stop on the Chilterns line that runs from London to Birmingham.” In reality, Aylesbury Vale Parkway is a terminus of a branch of the Chiltern Main Line between London and Aylesbury. It is not a through-station on the longer London–Birmingham route.

These corrections reinforce the need for careful verification when reporting on infrastructure costs, environmental measures, and rail networks — areas where numerical precision and accurate naming matter to public understanding. Misstating figures or technical details can inadvertently skew debates about major public projects like HS2, where costs, conservation and connectivity are central concerns for readers and stakeholders.