"Clearly there are still some major hurdles which have to be agreed but I am confident, with the continued support of the city council, Knowsley, local politicians, Merseytravel and other Merseyside councils, we can see this dream become a reality.
"I am working extremely hard to achieve this."
Earlier, a senior member of the Liverpool Cabinet revealed how near all parties were to a deal.
He said: "We are tantalisingly close. David Henshaw is due to produce a report on Thursday which will go to the board on November 4." Last night,, Mr Wade-Smith said he was "extremely heartened" by Cllr Storey's letter of reassurance.
He added: "I've always been quietly confident we could deliver this but we have to see it through to the end.
"The loss of the Fourth Grace was a rude awakening but Capital of Culture was a fantastic example of everyone getting behind the bid to the very last citizen and we've got to do that with all major projects.
"This will have an impact on the city for 50 years and beyond." Whitehall will provide £170m towards the cost of Line One but Merseytravel will also be borrowing up to £40m.
That has angered many on the Wirral side of the Mersey since excess money from tunnel tolls is likely to be used to fund the loan repayments, albeit with no actual increase in the tolls.
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