The Government appeared to scale back plans for the high-speed railway line in November, as part of its £96bn Integrated Rail Plan (IRP).

According to the plan, the eastern leg of HS2 will stop at East Midlands Parkway, but trains will then run on an existing line to Sheffield and £100m will be spent on a study that will “look at the most effective way to run HS2 trains to Leeds”.

It also said some of the funding would be used to find “the most optimal solution” for capacity issues at Leeds Station and begin work on the West Yorkshire Mass Transit System.

An artists impression of what the new HS2 trains could look like. Manufacturers Hitachi and Alstom have signed a £2bn contract to build a fleet of trains to serve the new network.

The launch of the study, known as the Leeds Area Study, has been delayed after the Treasury reportedly questioned the cost and 10 months later Northern leaders are still waiting.

Transport for the North has revealed the study is expected to take 18 months to two years to complete, but it cannot begin until new Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan publishes the terms of reference.

When he was HS2 Minister, Andrew Stephenson said the Leeds Area Study will look at the original plans, potential upgrades to existing lines and a hybrid approach.

New Prime Minister Liz Truss has previously said she will not revert back to the original plans for HS2, which would have seen the eastern leg built between Birmingham and Leeds by 2033.

The deadline for the high-speed link was then pushed back to between 2035 and 2040, before the easten leg was cut short by the Government.

In November, Downing Street also revealed plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) had been altered.

Transport for the North, which was preparing the business case for the project, called for a new high-speed line to be built between Leeds and Manchester, with a stop in Bradford, and a new line from Warrington to Liverpool.

But the Government, which decided to take charge of the project in November, instead opted to spend £17.2bn on building a 40-mile line between Warrington and Marsden, and honour existing plans to upgrade the Transpennine Route.

It said Transport for the North’s preferred option would cost an extra £18bn, shave just four minutes off a trip from Manchester to Leeds and not be operational until 2043.

However, Ms Truss has promised to revert back to the old plans and build NPR in full, describing the project as “absolutely crucial for the future of the North of England”.

Speaking in July, she said: “I will immediately, upon becoming Prime Minister, work with my new Transport Secretary, bring all the local groups together – the councils, the mayor, the MPs to create the plan to move forward with this really import project.”

£100m study looking at 'best way' to get HS2 trains to Leeds could take two years