Video: Frederick Forsyth: HS2 is a 'silly' train line for tycoons Author Federick Forsyth says he opposes the government's high speed rail project because he fears it will cost "an arm and a leg." Mr Forsyth called the background research into the project "extremely shoddy," saying "we've been given figure after figure, reason after reason, route after route." If we have all this money to spend on infrastructure, then could we not do better? We could do more for £50 billion than build this rather silly one line for tycoons. The multibillion-pound high-speed rail link, that will run a mile to the east of Mr Forsyth's home in Buckinghamshire, will allow trains to travel at 225mph along a new line north from London.