The Government is throwing good money after bad on HS2, taking no account of its poor value

sir – I’m not surprised by the Government’s decision to push ahead with HS2 (report, February 11).

For some time now, it has been following the logic of the sunk cost fallacy, whereby the billions of pounds ploughed into a project generate their own validity, regardless of the scheme’s ultimate benefit or value for money. Those overseeing the project lose sight of the possibility – and, indeed, advantages – of cancellation.

There are three points to make. First, no business would continue with a project whose costs had more than doubled as HS2’S have. Secondly, the underwriting by the Government ensures that those costs will inflate even further. Thirdly, this all shows the Government’s pledge to reduce the national debt was nonsense. Jon Rollinson

Balsall Common, Warwickshire

sir – Once again, the Government has not listened. Crossrail in London is still not finished, and local stations are waiting to be completed. By the time

HS2 is built, we will be expected to drive electric cars (obviously on beautifully resurfaced, pothole-free roads with lots of charging points). There will be no need for expensive high-speed trains. It would make more economic sense to spend taxpayers’ money on improving existing rail services in the Midlands and the North. Silvia Nesbitt

London W13

sir – Does Boris Johnson think that, now he’s got his five years in power, he can play us for fools in the North?

HS2 is a vanity project for London, and will be obsolete before it reaches us here. We need massive investment in east-west rail links, not patch-up solutions – and we need that investment now. Wanda Leach

Maghull, Lancashire

sir – I was never in favour of HS2, but at this point I agree that it should proceed.

Given the fundamental purpose of the project, namely to regenerate the North of England, the scheme would make better sense if current work were suspended and construction started in the north to work towards the south. For an investment of this magnitude we should be able to assume that constructors are capable of meeting in the middle. Mick Ferrie

Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

sir – The Government is absolutely right to proceed with HS2. We desperately need to bring our Victorian railways up to date after decades of neglect.

We should also get on with building the third runway at Heathrow, as well as additional nuclear power stations. Failure to modernise Britain’s infrastructure will badly damage this country and render it unable to compete in the modern world. Ted Shorter

Tonbridge, Kent sir – The thing that worries me most about HS2 is not the cost of the project but the cost of the tickets. Graham Evans

Taunton, Somerset

sir – It seems likely that few people will be able to afford to travel on the HS2 line. However, the most crucial point is a technological one.

Working from home or from local offices, connecting remotely to conferences or one-to-one meetings, is already popular in Britain. Very soon, a transport project like HS2 will come to seem embarrassingly irrelevant. Simon Lever

Winchester, Hampshire

sir – Given that the subject of HS2 seems likely to dominate the airwaves for the foreseeable future, I wonder if the Government might support a short campaign to teach interested parties how to pronounce the word “aitch”.

Such a scheme would do much to lower listeners’ blood pressure. Richard Bundy

Lymington, Hampshire