Doubts over the future of the controversial HS2 line north of Birmingham have emerged, according to reports.

Sources close to a Government-commissioned review of the high-speed rail line speaking the ITV News have said the eastern stretch between Birmingham and Leeds will be scrapped entirely and the western route to Manchester downgraded.

The sources say the recommendations have been made due to the spiralling costs of the project, which currently stand at around £103 billion.

The costs do not outweigh the economic benefit, they add.

The revelations come a week before the review by Douglas Oakervee is to hand its findings to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Friday, October 18.

The report – which will also be seen by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Sajid Javid will “inform the Government's decisions on next steps for the project”, the Department for Transport has said.

The downgrade of the western route casts further doubt over whether HS2 trains will reach Cumbria, with initial plans seeing the western leg terminate at Glasgow.

Any link to Cumbria would fall in the third phase of work, with HS2 trains using the existing West Coast Mainline north of Wigan.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce has pledged its support for HS2 on the condition trains observe the current West Coast Mainline stop pattern in Cumbria and stop at Oxenholme The Lake District, Penrith and Carlisle stations.

“There is a danger that Cumbria is left with a second-class rail service,” if they do not, said the organisation’s chief executive Rob Johnston.

In a recently published paper, free market think tank the Adam Smith Institute said Cumbria was in danger of missing out due to HS2, with Carlisle, and Lancaster just south of the county’s border, losing direct trains to London if it was delivered.

The Institute branded HS2 “a massive white elephant” and instead called on investments to be made on the existing railway network, including northern sections of the West Coast Mainline.

The paper’s author, Cumbrian-based rail expert Adrian Quine, said HS2 had become “the most out of control project of our generation”.

There is also doubt over whether the Oakervee Review will be published on October 18.

ITV suggests Boris Johnson may call a general election in November should a meeting with European Union officials the day before fail to make enough progress on agreeing Britain’s withdrawal.

If that happens, the publication of the review may be postponed until after the election, ITV added.