Transport chiefs have been accused of missing a trick in failing to include the reinstatement of the Wharfedale line in a new ten-year plan.

Re-opening the line from Arthington to Menston - closed 40 years ago under the Beeching rationalisation - would bring huge benefits to the Bradford district, according to the Rail Passengers' Committee.

In its annual report published today, north eastern England committee member Mike Plumb said the Department of Transport's document, Transport 2010 - The Ten Year Plan, failed to address the restoration of rail corridors which could be used for both passengers and freight.

He said restoring that part of the Wharfedale line could:

provide a direct rail link from the west through Bradford to Harrogate, York and the north-east;

link Bradford, Shipley, Keighley and Ilkley directly with Leeds-Bradford airport by creating a spur on the Leeds-Harrogate line at Horsforth;

increase rail travel by reducing the bottleneck at Leeds.

"If the aspirations of the Strategic Rail Authority are interwoven with the Transport Act, it is unlikely such a reinstatement could even be considered for at least ten years and possibly beyond," he said.

"Meanwhile thousands of disappointed commuters and hundreds of businesses eagerly searching for regeneration programmes that include realistic transport options struggle to make the best of an uneven environment on poorly lit and unsustainable roads throughout the area. Is this another chance gone begging?"

Otley Rail Link Action Group has been campaigning for years to get the town back on the rail map. Its chairman Jim Spencer, an Otley Town councillor, said a feasibility study was being carried out by Metro - West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive - into restoring the line between Menston and Otley.

The line was also cited in a report by the Countryside Agency in April as being among those which should be reopened to improve transport links.

"One of the features of the line is that it has great strategic importance in that it makes direct links possible between the north-east to Bradford and the west without going through Leeds," said Councillor Spencer.

"If a link was then provided between the two stations in Bradford it would then provide a direct link between the north and England to the south of England."

Coun Spencer said restoring rail links to the town would also bring huge local benefits.

"It could be used to take gravel out by rail instead of by road which is a huge issue in Otley," he said.

Derrick Joanes, secretary of the Wharfedale Rail User's Group, said it fully supported the restoration call.

"Otley is a sizeable town that does justify being linked to the railway network once again when funding is available."

Metro director general, Kieran Preston, said: "Metro fully supports calls to develop public transport links in the region and has produced a 20-year document, RailPlan 5 which sets out the expansion and improvements it wants to see.

"However it is hard to see where the investment for whole new lines, as called for in this and other reports, will come from at a time when our own proposals to increase capacity on the network, through investment in new stations, longer platforms and more trains and carriages, will not feature in the early years of the new rail franchise.

"Our own investigations show the cost of building heavy rail in West Yorkshire could be £5m to £10m per kilometre, which in the light of Network Rail's recently announced £290m deficit and the Strategic Rail Authority's spending shortfall of £300m, currently puts new lines out of the question."

A Department of Transport spokesman said any plans to re-open the line would first need to be considered by the Strategic Rail Authority. He said: "If it felt the case merited further attention it would be in the SRA's remit to conduct the necessary feasibility and cost benefit analysis."