YP Letters: Redundancy fears over high-speed rail line

HS2 is supposedly still on track but is it a good use of public finances?

Now that we have a new Prime Minister I would like to make a suggestion to her regarding the British transport system. After spending umpteen millions of pounds discussing the proposed HS2 I suggest that she should look again at the cost and just scrap the idea altogether. Instead we could investigate the feasibility of a two-lane trolley bus route from, say, Plymouth to Mirfield with diesel bus connections from Plymouth to London and the South East and similarly between Mirfield and Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Dewsbury etc. Then, after many more years of fruitless discussions and spending yet more millions we could scrap this idea also. Have I heard of something similar in Leeds?

Joking apart, I seriously believe that the proposed HS2 line will be redundant before it is even finished. We already have online video conferencing and in the very near future our so-called leaders of industry will be able to sit at a table alongside images of each other and discuss whatever is required without leaving their office.

The only thing they will miss is their corporate dinners and a stay at a luxury hotel. HS2, if it is ever built, will only be of any use for people who need to transport special equipment to do a job and usually a car or van will be more convenient.