French railways highlight the dangers of putting our faith in HS2

SIR – Alan Shaw (Letters, June 9) urges us to invest in HS2.

As a frequent visitor to France, which has several high-speed lines, I have noticed, over the years, that the smaller lines are gradually being closed – or, at best, trains continue to run but there are fewer of them. The rusted lines are evidence of the state France has fallen into, to the detriment of rural populations and visitors.

The larger French towns might be enjoying the benefits of high-speed travel but the same cannot be said for the rest of the country. We should be careful what we wish for. Patricia Jagger

Bedford

SIR – Mike Laughton (Letters, June 9) asks how many platforms will be needed at Euston to enable HS2 to dispatch a train every three minutes and 20 seconds.

It depends on the turnaround time of the incoming trains. If the operator can unload, clean and load each train in under 15 minutes then it will take six platforms. If it takes 20 minutes then eight will be necessary, and so on.

Demolition at Euston is well under way, and the design for the revitalised station includes 11 400m-long platforms, some of which will help more trains to run on the existing tracks. A proportion of the cost in the HS2 budget is to improve the current railway, which would have to be done in any case. Peter Owen

Woolpit, Suffolk

SIR – Raymond Barry (Letters, June 9) is right that HS2 tunnels will be too small for double-decker trains.

Fortunately the trackbed and tunnels of the disused Great Central line are still there – and, as they were built to accommodate the larger European rolling stock, they can easily take double-decker trains. Nick Rose

Chichester, West Sussex

SIR – Several letters have raised the idea of using Maglev for HS2. This technology was in fact tried on a minor scale in Birmingham some years ago, for a link between Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway station, and spent most of its time broken down. Alan Mordey

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

SIR – Bill Halkett (Letters, June 9) is correct that Professor Eric Laithwaite invented (if that is the right word) what is now known as the Maglev system – but it was not when he was at Imperial College, nor in the Sixties.

I was a student at Manchester University in the late Fifties, and recall sitting in a metal-framed canvas chair, being propelled across a basement room in the electrical engineering department on what was then, more prosaically, known as a linear motor.

Professor Laithwaite moved on to Imperial and continued to work on the system, but its origin was in Manchester. Alan Seaton

Eastbourne, East Sussex