LONDON — Construction formally began Friday on Britain’s $140 billion high-speed railway project, aiming to forge better connections between cities for decades to come.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps defended the HS2 project, which has its “shovels in the ground” moment just as the country is wondering whether the over-budget and often-delayed project offers good value at a time when the the COVID-19 pandemic has enshrined the idea of working from home.

“We’re building this for 150 years and still going strong,” he told the BBC.

Construction on the new high-speed railway was given the final go-ahead by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in February.