Transport boss Lord Adonis has once again moved to reassure rail passengers that a high speed network will not by-pass Yorkshire as business leaders called for a political consensus on the policy.
Lord Adonis has insisted that he wants to "transform connections" between the West Midlands, North West, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland as MPs continue to raise concerns that a new fast link line would miss out some major conurbations.
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ever the Transport Secretary did admit that all the work could not be done at the same time and would not say which areas are likely to get the benefits first.
The Yorkshire Post is campaigning for a direct 200mph service from Leeds to London – a route the Government is considering as well as a west coast option that would see commuters having to travel to the capital via Manchester.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said politicians must develop a cross-party consensus on how to build the network so long term public and private sector funding can be secured.
High Speed 2 (HS2), the company set up by the Government to examine the potential new line, is set to report to the Department for Transport at the end of this year. Lord Adonis said: "What we made clear in the commission that we gave to HS2 is that we do wish to see the major conurbations of the country served.
"The whole purpose of high speed rail is to transform connections between the major conurbations – London, the West Midlands, the North West, Yorkshire, the North East and those great Scottish cities.
"In due course we want to see all of the conurbations connected, but of course building a high speed line that's going to go potentially for 500 miles of track can't be done in one go." Preparing and building the line would take between 20 and 30 years and HS2 had been asked for advice on how to "phase the build-out", he added.
Last month York MP Hugh Bayley urged the Government to look at the case for both sides of the Pennines "on equal terms".
Liberal Democrat Sir Alan Beith warned that if the line terminated in Leeds there would be a negative effect on the North East, while Tory Philip Davies expressed concerns that the line would be limited to the North West.
The BCC today released a report called High Speed, High Time setting out the business and economic benefits such as bringing Sheffield to within 80 minutes of London and Leeds to within 25 minutes of Manchester.
The Yorkshire and Humber Chambers contributed a chapter to the report, and Director of Policy Nick Pontone said it made clear that only a full high-speed network would deliver economic benefits across the country.
He said: "It is significant that Chambers in the North West say that trans-Pennine links are 'an essential element' of any high- speed network. This is a clear and united message that current plans for a limited west coast high speed route are totally inadequate.
"The report backs up the Yorkshire Post's Fast Track to Yorkshire campaign and we now urge the region's politicians, Yorkshire Forward and local authorities to work with us to (lobby] to bring high-speed rail to Yorkshire and Humber."
