Business chiefs press case for Yorkshire high-speed rail link

Business leaders are to write to Mr Hammond seeking a meeting to press him to back the "Y shaped" route – which would link both Leeds and Sheffield to London – which had been proposed by Labour.

The Tory manifesto had promised an alternative route from the capital to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, but the coalition deal talks only of establishing a "truly national high speed network" and warns financial constraints mean it will have to be achieved in phases, raising the prospect of the project taking longer than had been expected.

Unions last night called for a fixed timetable to be set and asked for "concrete assurances" the project would not be a victim of cuts, while Mr Hammond has also been asked to meet MPs from the region to discuss concerns that Yorkshire has not had its fair share of transport funding in the past.

Nick Pontone, policy director at Yorkshire and Humber Chambers of Commerce, said: "It's good news that they recognised the actual need for a national network – that's the most important thing.

"If they're still looking at the options – be it their proposals to go to Yorkshire via Manchester or our strong preference to pick up the High Speed Two proposals that Lord Adonis adopted – we need to be making the case in Yorkshire about what our preferred route is."

He will write to Mr Hammond this week asking for a meeting to press the case for the "Y-shaped" high-speed route – with a single line from London to the Midlands which then branches with one route heading through the north west and the other through Yorkshire and the north east to Scotland – as well as to discuss the region's wider transport needs.

Although the Tories first unveiled their route two years ago, Mr Hammond was only given the transport brief just over a week ago so the arrival of a fresh face has raised hope that he may be willing to reconsider the proposals which Labour had adopted, which were drawn up by the Government-commissioned High Speed Two company headed by former civil servant Sir David Rowlands.

Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew has also written to the Minister seeking an early meeting with West Yorkshire MPs to discuss the case for investment in Leeds and the importance that the 250m trolleybus scheme is not axed in the search for cuts by Whitehall.

Yesterday the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) called for certainty over what will happen about high-speed rail.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: "We've had enough of warm words from politicians about high speed rail. This essential low-carbon transport project has had more relaunches than the space shuttle and yet we are still left in the slow lane compared to most of the rest of Europe where it's a genuine priority."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "The Government is going to establish a high-speed rail network and the vision is of a network for the whole of Britain. That's where we are.In terms of detail, that will emerge in time."