Benefits of HS2 will outweigh mooted costs - Yorkshire Post letters

LORD Berkeley and others have complained that HS2 costs are spiralling out of control (The Yorkshire Post, January 6) and could reach £100bn. Is he also going to question the cost of Crossrail, now estimated at £40bn? HS2 is approximately 300 miles in total. Crossrail, the main section, 25 miles. In my book that means HS2 is five times less per mile of track.

HS2: Are critics ‘bottles of scotch’ or is the project ‘for the birds’?

HS2 will benefit a huge section of the country. Its cost also is spread over 20 years.

All massive infrastructure projects are likely to go over-budget given the timescales and unforeseen problems. The Channel Tunnel is one example. Even in Victorian times the Leeds Liverpool canal went 10 times over-budget. I don’t question that more oversight is needed – too many vastly overpaid managers and consultants seem to be employed on all similar projects – but rail capacity is stretched to the limit. We need this to change and sooner rather than later. Just remember we bailed the banks out to the same amount – overnight.

Taxpayer on course to make £40 billion loss on HS2, according to report

From: Jarvis Browning, Fadmoor, York.

IF they do scrap HS2, allocated money should be spent on upgrading the existing routes and adding more tracks where possible.