BRITAIN must start planning for 200 mph (321 kph) trains on the country?s creaking rail network to avoid congestion and boost the economy, the government?s transport advisory body said yesterday. High-speed rail lines would slash journey times and increase seating by 50 percent, according to a report by the Commission for Integrated Transport.

?We are now running out of capacity...and we have run out of time,? said Commission chairman David Begg. ?Other countries take a broader view of the economic and political benefits that new routes can bring and so should we.?

Britain?s inter-city express trains typically run at 100 mph (160kph), far slower than similar networks in Japan and across Europe. High-speed lines would allow passengers to travel from London to Birmingham in central England in less than an hour or to Glasgow in three hours.

The report said high-speed lines would be better for the environment than new roads or increased airport capacity and would help the economy. ?They can help bring jobs, inward investment and economic regeneration to the regions they serve,? Begg said.

It could cost 35 billion pounds ($64.66 billion) and about 20 years to build the new lines, according to railway analyst Christian Wolmar. ?First of all there?s the problem of getting the money and then there?s all sorts of difficulties about getting the land,? Wolmar told Sky News. ?I?d be lucky to see it in my lifetime.?

Britain?s first high-speed line, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link between London and the south coast, due to open in 2007, is expected to cost 50 million pounds ($92.37 million) per kilometre (mile).

The country?s railways are struggling to recover after years of under-investment and a series of fatal crashes. State-backed firm Network Rail took control of rail infrastructure in 2002 after the privatised Railtrack collapsed in the wake of a fatal crash at Hatfield, north of London, in October 2000.