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I never intended this blog to become a forum to discuss transport issues but it seems to have worked out that way over the last few weeks, what with the announcement about the Midland Metro extension in the Comprehensive Spending Review and an announcement by Birmingham City Council and Centro last week which gave the green light to a rapid transit vehicle (RTV) system.

This week it was the turn of High Speed 2 (HS2) to hit the headlines again. On Tuesday we reported the comments of Doug Squires, the president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, who said he is "not convinced" of the plan - which will introduce high speed trains between Birmingham and London - and described the £34bn cost as "frightening".

Coventry is "going to have a lot of the pain and none of the gain”, he says.

A friend of mine who lives in Aylesbury said something similar when I saw him recently. The work on HS2 will be hugely disruptive and will destroy some of the local landscape, he argues, but the benefits to the area in which he lives and works will be precisely nil.

I do have sympathy with these views but, looking at the larger picture, I don’t agree that the HS2 project should be scrapped.

Huge infrastructural projects of this kind - think the Channel Tunnel or Stansted Airport - always have their critics and there are clearly those who will benefit from such grand projets and some who won’t (on a purely local level) but they are for the greater good.

Developing a fast train route between Birmingham and London is a hugely positive thing in many ways. The building of it will create tens of thousands of jobs in the construction and support service sectors and once complete the economic benefits for this region will be huge. A 50 minute commute between the two cities would open up opportunities across all sectors - it then becomes possible to have your business in one area and your workforce in another, for example. And on an unashamedly self interested level, it will help to regenerate the Eastside area of Birmingham as that’s where the new train terminal will be located.

But I do have some concerns about High Speed 2 which I hope will be addressed at the transport select committee at the House of Commons which is investigating the high-speed rail issue later this month.

The first one is about long it will take to build. Most estimates seem to suggest it won’t be up and running before 2025. That seems a ridiculously long timeline. Surely it would be possible to shave at least five years off that?

And secondly, pricing. I think before any work starts on the scheme the government should make an announcement to the effect that ticket prices on HS2 will be comparable to other train lines. If it is overpriced then - as with the M6 Toll - people won’t use it. If it’s not whizzing down to London crammed full of business people then Birmingham may as well join forces with those in Coventry opposing it.

But - those caveats aside - the business case for HS2 is a compelling one and I for one am excited about the possibility of 18 trains an hour running between Birmingham and London at a speed of 250 miles an hour and carrying up to 1,100 passengers.

I’m even fantasising about Friday nights spent drinking in Islington and eating curry in Brick Lane!

Any comments? Andy Coyne, Insider