Use HS2 cash to give North a real boost

Chancellor Sajid Javid says he is backing HS2, but the proposed new rail link will do little for the North. All that the initial London to Birmingham section will do is encourage people to commute a bit further to the capital.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to divert the money to the North, to improve the quality of travel there and make the region a lot more attractive for new and existing businesses?

Isn’t it time the Government listened, used common sense and made the country a level playing field?

Mick Downes, Shropshire

Peter Hitchens was right to highlight last week the disastrous policy of rail closures in the 1960s. I also agree with his criticism of HS2, which is becoming a runaway train in terms of cost.

In the 1960s, lines were closed without any thought as to the future needs of small towns. Tracks were lifted and disused railway land was built on, thus rendering trackbeds permanently useless. Why was there no embargo in place to prevent the sale of railway land, giving the option of reopening lines?

Despite this, I hope there can be opportunities for many rail links to be re-established, rather than throwing even more money away on HS2. Andrew Pettigrew,

Haslingden, Lancashire

I couldn’t disagree more with Peter Hitchens’s column last week. If HS2 is thrown away, the journey between Birmingham and London will become a nightmare crush in a few years.

I travel between the two cities and I have seen the trains become more and more overcrowded. Adding coaches simply isn’t an option – already there are eight carriages on some services, and the platforms aren’t long enough.

Chris Frances, Solihull

The closure of many of our best-loved railway lines prompted the introduction of the motorway system that destroyed huge swathes of once-pristine countryside. Now, with HS2, history is repeating itself. What price progress? D. Harvey,

Chippenham, Wiltshire

Rail closures in the 1960s were an act of national vandalism which, as Mr Hitchens states, led to ‘more accidents, more filthy air, more noise, more imported cars and oil’.

The absurd sums of money destined for HS2 should be invested in reopening closed lines. This would reduce the country’s environmental footprint and would be most helpful to those Northern constituencies which were disproportionately affected by line closures. Keeley-Jasmine Cavendish,

London

Unlike France or Spain, this country is too small and crowded to benefit from a high-speed line.

Leon Slater, Stoke-on-Trent

Would it not be possible to introduce double-decker trains, as we see overseas? Double the capacity on trains and use them on existing lines. Richard Nicholl,

Market Drayton, Shropshire