Ambitious plans to expand the Metro have been given the green-light by council chiefs.

The North East Combined Authority has agreed a strategy for investment in Metro and local rail to improve passenger journey and kick start an expansion of high quality local rail for the region.

The Metro and Local Rail Strategy identifies a network of disused or under-used rail routes across North East England which they say could benefit from new or better services, putting whole towns and communities back on the national railway map.

The strategy, approved by the Leadership Board on Tuesday, also sets out the case for more than £1bn of new investment in the existing Metro system over the next 20 years.

The Leadership Board heard that advances in train technology mean a new train fleet could also have potential to operate on lines beyond the current Metro system, opening the way for the expansion of local rail services and better integration.

Local rail brings huge economic and social benefits to the communities it reaches today but we need to extend those benefits into new areas. Cllr Nick Forbes, lead member for Transport on the North East Combined Authority and leader of Newcastle City Council

The strategy identifies the potential to bring disused or little-used rail routes that thread across Northumberland, Durham and Tyne and Wear back to life.

It raises the possibility of putting towns including Ashington, Peterlee and Washington back on the railway map as well as creating new links into business parks such as the Team Valley, Metrocentre, Cobalt and the new International Advanced Manufacturing Plant north of Sunderland.

This includes routes where passenger services could be increased, routes currently used for freight traffic only and some where the track has been pulled up but the alignment still exists.

The strategy links expansion of local rail in the North East with investment in a new Metro fleet as modern technology means new Metro trains could operate more widely than over just its traditional electrified system, alongside regional passenger services.

It details the case for new Metro trains to replace the original fleet in service since 1980, at an estimated cost of £550m including power supply upgrades and new depot facilities, with a target date for a new fleet to be introduced in the early 2020s.

Nexus, which owns and manages Metro, has begun talks with the Government about funding routes and will submit a detailed business case before the end of this year.