True cost of HS2

IT’S a serious dereliction of duty of the parliamentary finance committees that they have not challenged the costing of HS2 and the wider implications for people and businesses who will be affected and relocated due to the project.

What is the business case for HS2? How much will it cost to travel on it, how much will it cost to run and maintain and what is the likely revenue? Even TV’s Dragons’ Den would ask these basic questions.

I fear for future generations who will be bailing it out for years.

ALAN GEE, Stafford. HS2 supporters still claim the journey from London to Birmingham will be a fantasy 49 minutes: with a road distance of 126 miles, it implies an average speed of 154 mph.

London to Sheffield in 79 minutes is based on an even faster 166 mph. Why does the Government believe the pro-HS2 claims? Is it any wonder that under such fools the nation’s debt has increased to £1.7 trillion?

DAVID G. MEACOCK, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks.