A new report from a major right-of-centre think tank has claimed that the total end cost of the High Speed 2 rail link could be as high as £80bn.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is claiming that £30bn in extra costs could be imposed as a result of lobbying from local authorities.
This total would be reached by adding the costs of ancillary infrastructure, design changes such as extra tunnelling, and publicly subsidised regeneration schemes around the route.
The IEA, in its the High-Speed Gravy Train report, is calling for the scheme to be shelved in favour of other infrastructure alternatives.
Revised figures earlier this summer already showed the official cost estimates ballooning from £33bn to £43bn.
