THE region’s main rail link could face congestion problems without investment in a new high-speed line.

That was the warning last night from Susan Goldsmith, deputy managing director of National Express East Coast, who said that such a development was fast becoming a necessity.

Ms Goldsmith was addressing business leaders at the annual meeting of the North- East Economic Forum, in Newcastle.

Next week, National Express marks a year in charge of the East Coast Main Line after it took over from the now-defunct GNER.

Ms Goldsmith said space was running out on the congested line, which links the North-East and Yorkshire with London and Scotland.

She said: “While the world economic situation is dominated by the credit crunch, our rail industry also faces a capacity crunch. And, at best, capacity on the East Coast Main Line will be completely constrained by 2020.”

She said that, although National Express was proposing solutions to the difficulties, such as a new timetable from December next year and boosting the number of seats by ten per cent on receipt of new rolling stock from 2013, there was only limited scope.

Ms Goldsmith, who said that customer satisfaction and punctuality on East Coast had improved in the past year, added: “We believe the answer to this capacity crunch lies in the development of a new high-speed rail line, which is fast becoming an economic necessity.

“High-speed rail is, first and foremost about capacity. It is about meeting rising passenger demand.”

She said that faster journey times, potentially up to 220mph, could mean travel between Newcastle and Edinburgh could be cut to 45 minutes and between Newcastle and London to 90 minutes.