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Improvements to the West Coast Main Line (WCML) have been made since 2002 but more can be done to ensure costs are kept down, a committee of MPs has said.

The total projected cost of renovating the ageing infrastructure of the line to the north-west and Glasgow has reached £8.6 billion, an increase of £6 billion since the original estimate, the public accounts committee (PAC) said today.

In 2002 the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and Network Rail intervened to oversee the project after Railtrack – which had been upgrading the line – went into administration.

Since then, the PAC report says, the modernisation programme has been "turned around".

"Passenger numbers are up, journey times are down and trains are more likely to run on time," said Sir Edward Leigh, chairman of the PAC.

Despite this progress, the report claims that it is coming at a cost and the public is "having to stump up a lot of money".

Network Rail expects to overspend by £300 million along with the SRA's increased budget.

"Network Rail has improved control over costs but there is ample room for improvement: for instance, by benchmarking costs for track renewals and signalling work in order to able to challenge contractors' prices better," said Sir Edward.

"It is not as if spending on such a heroic scale is the end of the story. Demand for the services on the WCML has grown more quickly than expected and some parts of the route are already at or near capacity. It is extraordinary that in only eight years time the line once again may not be able to meet demand."

The PAC report recommends that the Department of Transport and the Office of Rail Regulation must explore with Network Rail and the train operating companies "every measure they can to enable greater use of the existing tracks, increase train capacity and minimise disruption to services from work on the track and signalling".

Sir Edward concluded: "There must be no suggestion that, following the expenditure of billions of pounds on the line, railway passengers should simply have to resign themselves to the stress and inconvenience of chronic overcrowding."

Commenting on the report, Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "The best way to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent efficiently is to allow Network Rail to get on with its job without constant government interference.

"The long-term answer to increasing Britain's rail capacity must be to build dedicated high-speed rail lines."