New Staffordshire-Manchester rail line proposed

The mayors have said capacity was becoming an issue on the West Coast Main Line

A new railway line between Staffordshire and Manchester Airport is the preferred option to improve connections between the West Midlands and the north, work commissioned by two mayors has provisionally concluded.

Last month Andy Street and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham unveiled three options, following the scrapping of the planned HS2 link, including improving the West Coast Main Line.

A private sector group provisionally concluded a new line was likely to offer the best combination of costs and benefits.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said it awaited the group's proposals for securing funding.

The new line would run about 70 miles (112.7km) from HS2 at Handsacre in Staffordshire.

The other two options were significant engineering upgrades to the West Coast Main Line and building bypasses at pinch points on the line.

More detailed work is to be done ahead of final conclusions this summer.

The private sector group, convened by the mayors and chaired by infrastructure expert Sir David Higgins, has looked at potential options and is led by engineering firm Arup with input from six other companies.

The final conclusions will also set out options for Crewe.

Andy Street said it was clear a new line was "the best option for improving connectivity"

Mr Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, said although there were only provisional findings, it was clear the new line was the best option for improving connectivity and the "most attractive option for significant private sector involvement".

The mayor added he thought it was "really powerful" that Labour's Mr Burnham and himself had been able to come together "to produce this work cross-party".

Andy Burnham said it was becoming "drastically clear" the existing West Coast Mainline and M6 would not be sufficient to cope

The Greater Manchester mayor said: "We were disappointed by the decision to cancel the northern leg of HS2 and the way it was done, but right now we are focused on delivering an alternative."

He added it was becoming "drastically clear" the existing West Coast Mainline and the M6 would not be sufficient to cope with increasing passenger and freight volumes.

A DfT spokesperson said it would carefully consider "initial proposals from the mayors' study" and await the group's full findings, as well as its proposals for securing private sector funding "that will be required to progress this".

They added the government remained committed to "our plan to reallocate the £36bn of savings from the cancellation of HS2 phase 2 into improving local transport" to benefit "more people in more places, more quickly".

"These plans are progressing well and reallocation of those savings is already under way."