Why the HS2 dream was never on the right track | Letters

Tony May lists the problems with the high-speed railway and says that investment should have started in the northNils Pratley is right to deride the gold-plated design of HS2 (International investors are laughing at the HS2 shambles, 4 October). On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in 2018, I questioned the decision to design for 400km/h running. HS2 had shown that increasing the design speed by 20% would save just four minutes from London to Birmingham, but increase energy costs by a quarter.