Henri Murison makes a spirited defence of HS2 on the grounds that it will add much needed extra capacity to our rail network.

That much is true, but it's the wrong capacity in the wrong place. HS2 will only connect the nation's already well connected urban sprawls.It will offer no direct connectivity to villages, market towns or most of the old fashioned cathedral cities which rely heavily on tourism and hospitality for their economies.

Few people, especially frequent rail users, doubt the need for extra capacity on our rail network.

An early representation of what the new HS2 trains could look like. PIC: HS2/PA Wire

However there are quicker, cheaper and fairer ways of delivering it than HS2. Even at this stage it is not too late to call a halt to the lunacy of a scheme which will take decades to deliver and be obsolete by the time it has been completed.

On the cost benefit analysis, it has already been admitted that HS2 will deliver a smaller benefit, expressed as pence in the pound, than it will cost.

Surely now is the time to call an end to this madness once and for all.

Now is the time to put an end to the HS2 scheme once and for all - Yorkshire Post Letters