A £3 BILLION investment in the East Coast Main Line, mainly in North Yorkshire, could deliver a £9bn boost to the UK economy following the opening of the High Speed Two (HS2) route, according to independent research.

The Consortium of East Coast Main Line Authorities, which represents councils along the 580-mile route from Aberdeen to London, said its study had found for every pound spent on work to improve the line would produce £3.33 of wider economic benefits.

The report states to realise "gold standard" benefits, the investment would need to include a programme of complementary works north of York, and a small number of schemes south of the city.

It found the economic benefits would be largely achieved through improving services from the East Coast Main Line to cities across the North and using capacity released on the line by the diversion of longer distance services from the north onto HS2.

The study states: "We have deliberately taken a conservative approach to valuing the economic benefits and have not included the benefits for those services that would be re-routed over HS2."

Its chairman York council leader David Carr said: “The east coast community is the backbone of UK plc. Communities served by the line contribute more than £300bn to the economy every year.

“ECMA is calling for the work needed to improve the line to be prioritised, and our member organisations will continue to bring forward economic development proposals that can help finance the vital upgrades the East Coast Main Line needs.

“The wider economic benefits of this investment will be felt from London to Scotland, with smaller economies along the line seeing proportionally larger gains."