Costly HS2 is not on

Published: 7 April, 2011

• IF transport secretary Philip Hammond is to be believed “High Speed Rail” is a national status symbol. 

He says “Britain cannot afford to be left behind”. He tells us we need to be transformed and placed among the nations embracing progress etcetera.  

Sadly he is of the school of “don’t confuse me with the facts”.  

Because, by world standards, we have an enviable rail system, if expensive to use. 

The flawed HS2 proposals do not withstand close scrutiny if we look at the trumpeted benefits (The arguments against HS2, Letters, March 31). 

The high speed network is demonstrably not sustainable. We cannot afford costly status symbols like HS2 that will cause havoc and deliver so little. Undeniably we do need additional rail capacity but not HS2. 

Spend the HS2 budget on revamping our inherited Victorian railway network and I will contribute to the cost of a statue of Mr Hammond that might be placed in front of a restored Euston Arch. 

The HS2 plans lack persuasiveness and should be abandoned.

PETER CUMING
Talacre Road, NW5

• IF we need more public transportation to connect the North to the South digging three tunnels under residential properties is not the answer. 

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, NW3