A magnet powered 300mph train, set to revolutionise Britain's railways, could be piloted in the North-East by 2009, the local man driving the project said last night.

Alan James, who lives in Wark, near Hexham, Northumberland, is the project leader of UK Ultraspeed, which is looking at the possibility of setting up a high-speed north-south rail link.

The link would enable passengers to travel from Newcastle to London in 100 minutes and to Edinburgh in just 40.

The trains would float above a magnetic track using the latest Maglev technology - a system which has already been successfully pioneered in Shanghai.

The Department of Transport is spending an estimated £6.3bn improving the West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and London. But it has confirmed it is considering the Maglev rail-link as part of a longer-term UK railway strategy.

Mr James is leading a £2m feasibility study on the link, financed by the German company which owns the Maglev technology.

He said the rail link would be built in stages and the first stretch of track could be built between Newcastle and Middlesbrough - enabling passengers to travel between the two in just 15 minutes.

He said: "The North-East is one of the prime candidate regions for the first section of the UK Ultraspeed. It is a region which is trying to overcome its peripheral status.

"It is a region which has a history of achievement when it comes to railways. And it is a region which has strong backing from development agencies like One NorthEast. The stretch between Newcastle and Middlesbrough is long enough for the train to get up to full speed. There are a number of industrial brownfield sites between the two cities, as opposed to greenfield sites.

"The main objections to Ultraspeed will be planning matters rather than financial issues or political will, so it helps there are no national parks between the two cities.

"This link would do for the North-East as a whole what the Metro has done for Tyneside. … He added: "If this was set up, it would have enormous economic significance for the North-East. It is about re-aligning the UK's economic geography and empowering growth in the North."