Metro Chairman Cllr James Lewis has welcomed news that the electrification of the cross-Pennine rail route connecting Leeds and Huddersfield with Manchester, Merseyside and the North East is among the projects in the Government's Infrastructure Plan announced today.

"Research has shown that the result of bringing journey times between Leeds and Manchester down from around an hour to under 45 minutes would be a £6.7bn boost in productivity," said Cllr Lewis. "Electrifying the route would make it an attractive alternative to the M62 reducing congestion on the often overcrowded motorway.

"As well as being extremely important in their own right, this electrification projects may also offer an opportunity for 'fill in' schemes, such as the Harrogate and the Caldervale lines and we will be pursuing this with Network Rail and the Department for Transport.

"Improving cross-Pennine train services is one of the building blocks of a transport network that will help build the economy of West Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region," continued Cllr Lewis.

"Now we need the go-ahead on our major funding bids for the NGT trolleybus network, new rail stations at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge and refurbishment of the Leeds Inner Ring Road, when the DfT announces its decision next month."

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's today programme this morning, Metro Director General Kieran Preston said that Leeds and Manchester already generated 10% of the UK economy and by bringing them together electrification would enable them to play a larger role.

Electrifying the line between them and reducing the journey times between them by 15 to 20 minutes meant up to 30,000 jobs could be created, he said.

Listen to Kieran Preston's interview on the Today programme.