The coverage of HS2 yesterday was about the time savings – but already today focus has shifted onto the cost.

Many newspapers have spotted – or been told – one of those ‘stick in the mind’ figures; that the whole scheme, including the northern extensions to make the final ‘Y’ shape, will cost £1,000 for every family in the country (£32 billion in total).

They also value each minute saved of the initial London-Birmingham section at £500 million (34 minutes saved at £17 billion).

Any mention of the economic benefits and the value of the time saved over years is saved for the bottom of the news articles, if mentioned at all, as is often the case with such long-term investments.

There are still debates to be had over the economic case, with so much of it speculative at this stage, and the indirect benefits incredibly hard to quantify. But today’s coverage gives us yet more evidence that winning the public relations battle on HS2 will not necessarily be easy.