PAUL Withrington, Guardian, February 21, seems to have added two plus two and made 17 when he argues that HS2 will ‘be a financial disaster for Warrington’.

But then the clue is that his address is Northampton, which gives the game away. HS2 won’t have a station anywhere near Northampton.

In contrast, the people of Warrington will directly benefit, as they will either be able to board HS2 trains at an upgraded Bank Quay station or, if they live nearer, drive to the new interchange station sited alongside the M56 at Manchester Airport.

As to his figures, these seem to have come from protest campaigners in the south of England.

The HS2 scheme is costed at £33 billion, but in reality is likely to come out at significantly less because that figure has already massively allowed for potential cost overruns and what is known by the Department of Transport as ‘optimism bias’.

In reality, at a time when the civil engineering sector is hungry for work, the scheme is likely to come in closer to perhaps £25 billion.

Net transport benefits for HS2 were estimated in late 2012 as £48 billion (even after allowing for taxes), plus a further ‘wider economic benefits’ figure of £15 billion.

Costs, including operating ones, were calculated at £25.7 billion after allowing for fares revenue, something that your correspondent seems to have forgotten about. This gives a benefit to cost ratio (after allowing for taxes) of 2.5. In other words, £2.50 of benefit for every £1 spent.

As for High Speed One in Kent, it is now happily being used by 18m passengers per year, including 10m international Eurostar passengers, which is not far off the revised forecasts.

DAVID THROWER 

Stockton Heath