Chancellor George Osborne is considering a £476 million upgrade plan on the London to Norwich line that could significantly boost job creation in the region.

Mr Osborne set up the East Anglia Rail Taskforce to find out how journeys between the cities could be reduced from two hours to 90 minutes, BBC News reports.

According to the taskforce's leader, Mark Pendleton, better rail links could lead to the creation of 50,000 jobs, mainly in Suffolk and Essex, and boost the local economy by £4.5 billion.

"We want to attract more investment, people and jobs to East Anglia as well as getting productivity and average wages up," he said, adding that the existing infrastructure is preventing growth.

MPs, business leaders, train operator Abellio Greater Anglia, the Department for Transport and Network Rail make up the taskforce, which also aims to cut journey times between a number of other cities in the region.