ELEVEN cities will today join forces to demand a network of high-speed rail lines that will not leave the North-East and Yorkshire in the slow lane – at a cost of billions of pounds of investment.

Local leaders from Newcastle to Glasgow and Cardiff will launch a campaign to urge the Government to accelerate plans for 225mph trains to link all of Britain’s big cities.

The call – to be made at a “highspeed rail summit” in London – comes weeks after Network Rail dealt a blow to the region by recommending a single £34bn line up the West Coast.

That study provoked uproar among business leaders, who warned of the heavy cost to the region’s economy and of growing problems of overcrowding on the East Coast Main Line.

However, no decision has been made and the Government has set up the company High Speed Two to examine the issue, with a report due by the end of the year.

Its chairman, former senior civil servant Sir David Rowlands, has already promised an option to take the line to Newcastle by the late 2020s – cutting the journey time to London to one hour 50 minutes.

At the campaign launch today, the 11 cities – the other eight are Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield – will also stress the need for fast connections to the rest of Europe.

That would mean passengers from the North being able to stay on the existing high-speed line to the Channel Tunnel, without changing trains in London.

The move is being backed by The Northern Echo, which today launches its own Keep The Region On Track campaign, to run alongside the existing Keep The Region Flying campaign to protect regional air links.

Meanwhile, the Northern Way group has argued that a trans- Pennine link would help deliver a £10bn economic boost, of which £3.5bn would be in the North.

The summit, the first of its kind, will bring together national and local politicians and planners, train manufacturers, financiers and developers at St Pancras International Station, London.

It promises that an international panel of speakers will share their experiences of the successful development of highspeed rail in countries such as France and Spain.

All three political parties back the principle of high-speed rail, with Labour the last to get on board last year after years of doubting its value.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis is an enthusiast but, so far, the Government is only committed to building a line to Birmingham, to be completed by about 2020.

Sir David’s report will say that stopping in the Midlands makes no sense and will set out options for a single line through Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, or twin lines up the West and East Coasts.

It will also argue that a link to Heathrow is vital to tempt air passengers, from the likes of Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley airports, to go by train instead.