The opening of HS2 is set to miss its 2033 target date by at least two years, according to reports.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to announce the high-speed line between London and Birmingham will no longer be completed by 2033.
She will tell Parliament there is “no reasonable way to deliver” the high-speed railway on schedule and within budget.
A delay of at least two years is likely, according to the Telegraph, as an official report reveals a “litany of failure” that has driven up costs by £37 billion.
“Frankly, when it comes to HS2, in some ways we are a bit of a laughing stock around the world in terms of how we handle infrastructure,” government minister Matthew Pennycook told LBC Radio.
“As a Government we are absolutely determined to turn that around.”
He condemned “erratic decisions” and “under-investment” in infrastructure under previous Tory governments.
He also stressed the need to “get to grips with project timelines and cost”.
The Transport Secretary will lift the lid on the lack of oversight that contributed to the spiralling costs of HS2 in a speech to the Commons on Wednesday afternoon.
She will tell MPs that she is drawing a “line in the sand” over the beleaguered rail project, as the Government attempts to reset how major infrastructure is delivered.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to tell Parliament on Wednesday afternoon there is "no reasonable way to deliver" the high-speed railway on schedule and within budget.
Ministers plan to learn from the mistakes of HS2 so that they do a better job when it comes to projects like Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Lower Thames Crossing, it is understood.
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“HS2 has made Britain a laughing stock in terms of its ability to deliver big infrastructure projects, and it has to end. This will set out the way we will do that,” a Government source told the PA news agency.
The result of two reviews into HS2 are expected to be announced alongside the Transport Secretary’s statement.
The first of these is an interim report by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2, who was appointed late last year.
He will assess the construction of the project’s first phase from London to Birmingham.
A second, wider review into the governance and accountability of HS2, led by James Stewart, will also report back.
This is expected to set out what has gone wrong with the project, and what ministers can learn for future infrastructure projects.
As she addresses MPs, the Transport Secretary is expected to address allegations of fraud by contractors to HS2 which have emerged recently.
Earlier this week, it emerged HS2 Ltd reported a sub-contractor working on the rail line to HMRC following an internal probe.
During the statement, Ms Alexander is also set to announce a new chair of HS2.
The current chair, Sir Jon Thompson, previously announced he would stand down in the spring of this year.
His replacement will be Mike Brown, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Mr Brown is the former commissioner for Transport for London, who helped to oversee the deliver of Crossrail, the transport project which became London’s Elizabeth Line.
HS2 was originally due to run between London and Birmingham, then onto Manchester and Leeds, but the project was severely curtailed by the Conservatives in power due to spiralling costs.
Concerns about the costs of the stunted project have persisted, with £100 million spent on a bat tunnel aimed at mitigating the railway’s environmental impact singled out by Sir Keir Starmer for criticism.