RAIL passengers have been condemned to decades of overcrowded trains and sky-high fares by the Government’s “lack of vision”, a damning report led by a Liverpool MP warns today.

The Commons transport committee – chaired by Riverside MP Louise Ellman – accuses Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly of having no meaningful strategy to cope with the expected boom in train travel over the next 30 years.

In particular, the report condemns Ms Kelly for settling for “just-in-time investments” – while ducking badly-needed long-term decisions to build new high-speed lines and electrify the existing network.

The already crowded West Coast Main Line, linking Merseyside and the wider North West to London, will be among “the first to saturate”, it warns.

The much-trumpeted 1,300 extra train carriages on order are “unlikely to relieve overcrowding significantly” – and most are earmarked for the South-East anyway.

The committee also urges Ms Kelly to slow down the withdrawal of government subsidy from the railways, the main reason why years of inflation-busting fares are looming.

And it turns its fire on Network Rail managers, accusing them of “serious management failures” epitomised by chaotic engineering over-runs that shut down the Liverpool-London line for four days last New Year.

Mrs Ellman, a Labour backbencher, said Ms Kelly’s White Paper for the next 30 years, released last year, “lacks vision and represents a missed opportunity”.

She added: “It is deeply disappointing that the White Paper dodged the decision on high-speed rail. We firmly believe this is an area where the Government needs to move into a different gear.

“We are deeply concerned that the rapid shift away from taxpayer contributions, and towards passengers paying a significantly larger share of the cost of running the railways, will be detrimental to passengers and the future of the railways alike.”

The Labour-dominated committee has spent six months examining the 30-year strategy, which pledged a 20% expansion of the rail network costing £10bn.

Its main conclusion is that the Government is wrong to favour modest changes to existing infrastructure rather than “grand visions” such as high-speed rail.

Last month, Network Rail did announce a study into five high-speed lines – including one alongside the existing West Coast line – but ministers have been lukewarm.