MINISTERS would be "mad" not to build a network of high-speed rail lines to the North, the region's transport supremo told MPs today.

Professor David Begg insisted there was no other sensible solution to the looming problem of chronically overcrowded trains on the Liverpool to London line by the 2020s.

However, Professor Begg signalled a battle ahead, when he called for twin 225mph lines into London from the West Coast and, "very quickly afterwards", the East Coast.

A crucial report to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, expected in December, is unlikely to back two separate lines, because of the huge extra cost.

Professor Begg, chairman of The Northern Way transport group, was giving evidence to the Commons transport committee on "Priorities for investment in the railways".

It came just weeks before completion of the "High Speed Two" study, which will recommend options for the route of a new line from London to Birmingham - and then further north.

That will pave the way for Labour to make a detailed high-speed rail timetable a key plank of its election manifesto. The Tories are already committed to a line through Manchester, to Leeds.