Insider Media Limited

A Y-shaped high-speed rail network should connect Birmingham with Leeds and Manchester. That's according to the government which says the plan would allow East Midlands and South Yorkshire access to high-speed transport. The idea has been welcomed by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group.

Transport secretary Philip Hammond said the government will begin consulting on the scheme early next year.

The Y-shaped high-speed rail network would feature separate legs from the West Midlands to Manchester and Leeds with stations along each branch.

John Lamb, of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group, said of the announcement: "That's good news as an addition to the London to Birmingham high-speed rail plans. It makes sense for high-speed rail to go on past Birmingham."

Hammond said: "We have committed to a high-speed rail network that will change the social and economic geography of Britain - connecting our great population centres and our international gateways, transforming the way Britain works as profoundly as the coming of the original railways did in the mid-19th century.

"So we will consult in the new year on the strategic roll-out of a high-speed rail network and on our preferred route for the first leg between London and Birmingham."

The route was favoured over a "reverse S" shaped route from Birmingham to Manchester and then across the Pennines to Leeds.

Hammond called high-speed rail a "strategic project that will make rail the mode of choice for most inter-city journeys within the UK, and for many beyond".

Government company HS2 Ltd has been providing advice to the government on high-speed rail. It says a Y-shaped system would bring £25bn of benefits to the economy.