WORKERS in the North East will be £1,000-a-year richer – and residents of Yorkshire £700 better off – if a network of high-speed rail lines is built, a study finds today.

The analysis, by management consultants KPMG, also concludes 95,000 jobs would be created by 2040, 46,000 in the North-East and a further 49,000 in Yorkshire.

Strikingly, the 250mph network – likely to be backed by the Government next month – would do more than perhaps any other project to narrow the North-South divide.

While the nation’s annual economic output would soar by up to £29bn by 2040, total job creation would be 42,000 at best – because employment in the South and East would be shifted North.

According to KPMG, the South-East would lose 41,000 jobs, while the East would see 40,000 posts disappear, as firms flock to places on the high-speed routes.

The study concluded: “Like the original coming of the railways, high-speed rail has the potential to transform the shape of the national economy.”

The findings will pile pressure on Labour and the Conservatives to make highspeed rail a top priority, whoever wins the General Election.

Within weeks, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis will publish his conclusions on the study undertaken by the company High Speed Two, which is arguing for a Yshaped route, with twin West and East lines north of Birmingham.

The Conservatives back an S-shaped line through Birmingham and Manchester to Leeds, and disagree about the route between London and Birmingham.

The KPMG study was commissioned by the campaign group Greengauge 21, which argued it proved high-speed would deliver a step change for the North, by creating a national market for businesses.

In its references to the North-East, the study pointed to “substantial improvements in journey times to a wide variety of areas, boosting wages by over two per cent and attracting people in the local labour market."

According to KPMG, the average worker in the North- East can expect to be earning £37,422 in 2040 with highspeed rail – or £36,415 if the project is axed – compared with £21,165 at present.

The High Speed Two study team has calculated that passengers from Newcastle will see journey times to London cut to one hour 50 minutes – but not until the late 2020s.