In a sign of the continuing anger among Scottish industry over the loss of Garl, the organisations including the Confederation of British Industry and Scottish Chambers of Commerce said the £215 million project was “not only desirable but affordable” and challenged the view that there were “insurmountable” financial reasons for cancelling it.

The joint submission, made by the heads of the CBI Scotland, SCC, Federation of Small Businesses Scotland, Institute of Directors Scotland, Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) and Scottish Financial Enterprise, follows a call by Glasgow City Council leader Steven Purcell last week to abandon the SNP’s commitment to providing universal free school meals to pay for Garl.

In a letter to Finance Secretary John Swinney, the business leaders called for alternative methods of funding to be considered. The CBI said later that a form of private finance, such as PFI or PPP, should be used.

“In our view, the Garl project is not only desirable but affordable,” the letter stated. “It has been cancelled only as a result of the Scottish Government’s priorities lying elsewhere and ministers’ decisions not to use the full range of funding options and revenue streams with regard to infrastructure development.

“In the spirit of partnership, we would be happy to sit down with the Scottish Government and others to discuss possible ways forward.”

David Lonsdale, assistant director of CBI Scotland, later told The Herald: “The SNP have chosen to spend money on their policy priority areas, which means there is less money available elsewhere.”

Charlie Gordon MSP, Labour’s transport spokesman, said that alternative methods of funding Garl, including borrowing by Network Rail, had not been properly explored. “John Swinney hasn’t been able to show us that the transport capital programme is any smaller this year,” he said.

“A simpler method of funding would be to borrow against the value of Network Rail’s assets. It’s like using a credit card rather than a debit card.”

Mr Swinney, who has deemed Garl “desirable but not essential” has resisted calls to reinstate the project or use alternative means of funding it.

Earlier this month, the Finance Secretary said that efforts to use Network Rail borrowing could impact on funding for separate rail projects such as the £1bn Edinburgh to Glasgow programme of improvements, including electrification of a significant number of routes in central Scotland, and other improvements to the main line routes to Aberdeen and Inverness.

He also resisted calls from the Liberal Democrat’s transport spokeswoman, Alison McInnes, to use a form of private finance similar to that used for the £295m Borders rail project, saying there were similar “affordability” issues.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it had put in place “a whole raft of positive business policies” which had been supported by leading business organisations.

He added: “The reality is that for the first time since devolution the Scottish Government is facing a real terms cut in the fixed budget available to us from the UK Government.

“It is now simply unaffordable to commit to Garl in the face of these Westminster-imposed cuts, when vital capital projects across Scotland, such as the M74 completion, M80 upgrade, Forth Replacement Crossing, AWPR, improvements to the A9, schools programme, Glasgow’s National Indoor Sports Arena and the new Southern General Hospital, must be allocated the capital they need to go ahead.”