The transport minister, Lord Adonis, is proposing a 200mph high-speed rail service modelled on the bullet trains pioneered in Japan in the 1960s.

He believes there is a strong case for building a £20 billion high-speed line that would cut journey times from London to Manchester, one of Britain’s most congested routes, from 2hr 7min to just 80min.

The plans have been given impetus by a visit Adonis made with Iain Coucher, the head of Network Rail, to Japan last month. “Britain has a lot to learn from Japan about high-speed rail,” the minister said. “In Japan it has been a powerful force for economic regeneration and national pride. It could be the same in Britain.”

Adonis’s comments come ahead of a government report, due to be published in the spring, on the viability of a high-speed rail network in Britain. The government’s National Networks Strategy Group, which Adonis chairs, is examining the potential costs and routes of high-speed lines. Other group members include senior officials from Network Rail and the Treasury.

According to Adonis, there are striking similarities between Britain and Japan because of relatively small distances between cities and high congestion levels.

Japan introduced the first bullet trains, which now run at up to 186mph, in 1964. Today the network links 10 cities carrying up to 1,600 passengers per train at peak times with services departing every five minutes.

In Britain, the government hopes to run similar trains on an entirely new line. They would be powered by overhead electrical lines, commonplace on high-speed networks in Japan, the United States, France and Spain.

In the long term, a high-speed rail network may be the only way to cope with the growing popularity of rail travel.

Last year, rail passengers travelled 30.1 billion miles, the greatest distance since the second world war and 10 billion miles more than a decade ago. With the number of passengers growing by nearly 8% a year, Britain’s busiest rail lines are struggling to cope.

The line between London and Manchester is one of the most congested in Britain. Despite an £8.8 billion line upgrade, which was finished earlier this year, Department for Transport officials believe it will need a great deal of extra capacity by 2024.

The strain on the existing line will be increased in 2011, when the BBC moves 2,500 staff to Manchester. BBC Sport and Radio 5 Live, with stars such as Gabby Logan, are among the departments being forced to relocate.

Adonis said: “In the past, experts have claimed that the distances between our cities are too small to justify investment in really fast trains. But the distance between London and Manchester is similar to Tokyo-Nagoya.

“I am analysing the remarkable Japanese success story to help us decide on the best way forward for Britain.”

The high-speed network could also be linked to Heathrow to allow airline passengers to transfer to trains for connections across Britain and to the Continent.

Ministers are already examining separate plans to build a giant high-speed rail hub with 12 platforms at Heathrow.

If this proved successful, high-speed rail lines could be built from London to Edinburgh via Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne, and from London to Cardiff via Bristol.

Ministers want to begin work on the new London to Manchester line as soon as possible so that it can be in place within 15-20 years. It is understood they hope to use new planning laws to avert a lengthy public inquiry.

Under these laws, decisions about major infrastructure projects will be made by a new independent planning body.

A source close to the National Networks Strategy Group said: “This will be transformational. The bane of infrastructure planning since the war has been that the government hasn’t taken the lead. This time they are.”

The Conservatives have said they will spend £16 billion on a high-speed line from London to Birmingham, and on to Manchester and Leeds by 2027.

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