As the costs are set to double to £60billion, should HS2 hit the buffers?

SURELY now is the time to cancel HS2. It’s reported that the cost has soared from £33billion to £60billion (Mail), will be at least a year late and the London terminus will cost £1billion. There appears to have been a total lack of control by management. Such people are never sacked for their inefficiency, are paid a vast bonus and seem to think the taxpayer will foot the bill. F. G. SKETCH, Grove, Oxon. I DON’T consider Hs2 to be a vanity project. Our roads and railways are running at full capacity and to upgrade them would cause chaos. Most european countries have high-speed railways to relieve congestion and to shorten journey times and we are doing the same with Hs2. In spain, high-speed trains have overtaken the airlines for the amount of internal traffic carried. a high-speed line from london to scotland could do the same. extending Hs2 to liverpool, Manchester and leeds could draw a lot of freight and

passenger traffic from the motorways. We had a comprehensive rail network until the Sixties when swathes of it were closed by Dr beeching to save money. If we scrap HS2 to save money, what will we do in 50 years when the country is gridlocked? MIKE THOMPSON, Plymouth, Devon. DO THOSE who are quick to condemn HS2 as a white elephant complain about the two cross-city railway extensions in London, which were not on time and over budget? Surely we need to improve transport connectivity to lessen the North/South divide. Mrs B. A. THORNTON, Wellesbourne, Warks. WHY spend £1billion on a railway station when the bosses at HS2 are considering running slower trains and less regular services to save money? It’s time for the Government to step in and halt HS2. B. COOPER, Chetwode, Bucks. HS2 is massively over budget and Crossrail is a year late. Why is Britain incapable of delivering big infrastructure projects? The rest of the world is laughing at us. M. SOUTHON, Christchurch, Dorset. NHS services are stretched to the limit while we are contemplating spending £1billion on an HS2 railway station. We certainly haven’t got our priorities right. J. BEARD, Sedgley, West Mids. SURELY the issue of increased capacity could be solved with longer trains and platforms at Euston and Birmingham. The billions saved in not going ahead with HS2 could be used for the entire rail network. D. RAY, Harrow, Middlesex. tHe Scottish Parliament building cost £414million, ten times over budget. the london olympic Games over-ran its original budget by 76 per cent. So why is there so much concern over the cost of HS2? PETER A. DION, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Notts.