TRANSPORT chiefs have unveiled an ambitious vision of the future that could see the North-East served by trams and high-speed trains.

Plans include operating trams, extending the Metro service, creating the region's own high-speed rail service, expanding Newcastle Airport and re-opening disused rail lines.

A new high-speed rail service would see train journey times between Newcastle and Middlesbrough drop from more than an hour to 20 minutes.

Re-opening disused rail lines, such as the Leam Line between Teesside through Washington to South Shields and freight lines, such as the Ashington, Blyth and Newcastle line, would mean passengers would not be subject to the delays they can face on the East Coast Main Line.

Plans for a ring main line connecting northern cities would also mean passengers and businesses would not have to rely on services to and from London.

Expanding Newcastle Airport so it could deal with flights to and from north America and more European destinations would boost the numbers of tourists coming to the North-East and create hundreds of jobs.

And increasing the number of roll on/roll off ferries from Tyneside would take business from ports in Kent.

Trams would be used again on the streets of northern cities, with Metro trains and bus services to provide better links.

Nexus already has plans under its Project Orpheus to re-introduce trams on 29 corridors heavily used, including Newcastle to Denton, Killingworth to Cramlington, Sunderland to Seaham and South Shields to Sunderland.

This integrated transport vision comes from Mike Parker, director general of Nexus.

He said: "All of this would require huge sums of money, but if you want to reduce the gap between the rich and poor areas of the country, then integrated public transport is vital."

He would like to see the proposed light railway system, in Middlesbrough, connected to the Tyne and Wear Metro, something Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon supports.

"I would like to see the region thinking as a whole and planning a strategy together rather than in isolation from each other," said Mr Mallon.

"To encourage business to relocate we must have excellent integrated links in rail, road and air."