THE £53bn HS2 rail project has finally been approved after 2½ years of discussion. We should not forget that HS1 was to cost £1bn and finally cost £11bn.

However, no mention has been made of the cost of the rolling stock, the provision of a dedicated power station to power the project and more importantly, the 20 per cent surcharge for the cost of the rail tickets! Surely a more realistic figure would be in the order of £120bn.

Of interest, my daughter works on these multi-million projects (the £87m Bishop Auckland hospital was one of hers) but she lives in France – the electronic world has done away with the need for daily attendance.

It is very plain that the whole HS2 project is already out of date and redundant.

Perhaps its services will be reduced to early mornings until 9.30am, restarting after 6pm, with the majority of the time being used by slow moving freight trains.

Surely there must be someone, somewhere, soon who can review the whole project and determine the end of this terrible, wasting, land-destroying fiasco.

Inevitably the money could be used elsewhere to improve rail needs.

William Robotham, Barton