Britain pays eight times more than the EU for road and rail projects, research shows

London Mayor Sadiq Khan and then Transport Minister Grant Shapps celebrated the £1.5 billion Northern Line expansion upon its completion. Photo: David Mirzeoff/PA Wire

The recent extension of the Northern Line to Battersea was cheaper but still cost £1.5bn or £743m per mile.

In contrast, Madrid's 81-mile metro network costs just £68 million per mile.

The first phase of HS2 will also cost at least £53.1 billion, or £396 million per mile, compared to the high-speed rail link between Paris and Strasbourg, which costs £31 million per mile adjusted for inflation.

The UK has also paid much more for some road projects.

Mr Dumitriou pointed to the Lower Thames Crossing Scheme, which aims to improve transport between Essex and Kent by tunneling under the Thames, at a cost of £9 billion, or £700 million per mile.

p>Despite five consultations and more than £250 million spent on a 63,000 page planning application, the scheme has yet to be approved.

“In fact, a quarter of a billion is spent so that one branch of government can request permission from another branch of government without any guarantee of success,” Mr. Dumitriou wrote in a research note posted online.

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Norway's Laerdal Tunnel, the world's longest road tunnel, costs just £140m inflation-adjusted, or £9m a mile, he added.

The A14 motorway from Cambridge to Huntingdon also costs pounds sterling. £1.6 billion for 21 miles, while Norway's Rifast and Aiganes Tunnels, which are 14 miles long but run 290 meters underwater through solid rock, cost just £700 million.

Mr. Dumitriou said that the UK can reduce infrastructure costs. by using more standardized designs and minimizing the use of expensive facilities such as tunnels, viaducts and bridges.

The stop-start approach to large projects has also made it harder for the UK to retain the skills and experience of people who have worked on large projects, he added.