TOWNS and cities across the region will benefit from high-speed rail, experts said today (Tuesday, August 6), demolishing a key criticism of the £42.6bn project.

Passengers can look forward to quicker, and more frequent, standard trains because the HS2 scheme will free up space on existing lines, the Network Rail study found.

Among the new services that will become possible are:

* London to Middlesbrough, or Sunderland - via York, Northallerton and Hartlepool, or via Thornaby.

* London to Saltburn – via Northallerton, Yarm, Thornaby, Middlesbrough and Redcar.

* Newcastle to Birmingham – via Hartlepool, Sunderland and Northallerton.

* Newcastle to Liverpool – via Hartlepool, Sunderland, Northallerton, York and Manchester.

* London to Scarborough – via York and Malton.

* London to Harrogate – via York and Knaresborough.

* Newcastle to Edinburgh - via Morpeth, Alnmouth and Berwick.

Network Rail hailed the potential of HS2 to “fundamentally reshape our railway in a way that incremental improvements simply cannot deliver”.

And it said: “We have squeezed every last incremental improvement out of what we’ve got.

“As demand continues to grow, this becomes harder and in some places impossible.

That is why we need High Speed 2.

“It will deliver much-needed extra capacity on the busiest rail lines and help boost economic growth, by transforming connectivity between our biggest cities.”

The detailed analysis appears to demolish the criticism that HS2 is a ludicrously expensive way to cut journey times between London, Birmingham and the North.

Anne McIntosh, the Thirsk and Malton MP, is among 27 Tories who urged David Cameron to consider axing the controversial project – insisting there was “no huge support” for it locally.

But Network Rail concluded it is vital to transform services for 100 towns and cities on existing routes across Britain – because fast services will switch to HS2.

However, the likely improvements for the North-East and North Yorkshire will not arrive until phase two of HS2 is completed, in 2033.

And Network Rail stressed that fares on HS2 must be in line with those on the existing network in order for that spare capacity to be released.

HS2 will deliver 225mph trains from London to Birmingham by 2026 – and a Y-shaped network, on to Leeds and Manchester, seven years later.

The second phase will slash the London to Newcastle journey time from 2hrs 52mins to just 2hrs 18mins – and Newcastle-Birmingham to 2hrs 7mins, from 3hrs 14mins.

But the project suffered a blow last month when the National Audit Office (NAO) rejected the Government’s claim that it will close the North-South divide.

And there was criticism when ministers admitted the bill for the project had mushroomed from £34.4bn to £42.6bn.

Network Rail said rail journeys had increased by almost 50 per cent over the last decade – with another 400m rail journeys a year expected by 2020.