HS2 is once in a lifetime opportunity for Yorkshire rail – The Yorkshire Post says

I HAVE just read Mark Casci’s excellent commentary entitled “Time to move past the self-centred approach to HS2” (The Yorkshire Post, September 17). He finishes the piece with “let’s crack on and build a better future for Yorkshire’s young” – I could not agree more.

Time to move past the self-centred opposition to HS2 - Mark Casci

HS2 is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if it is kicked into the long grass will leave unaddressed problems which will come back to haunt us as the rail system grinds to a halt – just look at the comment in Tom Richmond’s superb piece (The Yorkshire Post, September 20) about David Cameron on HS2 and ‘nimbyism’.

HS2 is being held up by Britain’s ‘nimbyist aversion’ to big infrastructure projects claims David Cameron

The point about taking freight off the roads is pertinent. Anybody can see that the M1, M6, M62 and M40 are struggling to cope, and it is notable that there are worries now coming to light about “smart motorways” becoming dangerous as hard shoulders are removed to add road capacity.

HS2 is not a silver bullet for infrastructure, and again your points about efficiency and cost control are spot on.

However, HS2 is arguably the most crucial part of a wider project together with Northern Powerhouse Rail, TfN and Midlands Connect to belatedly bring world class infrastructure to great swathes of the UK, including to Scotland.