VITAL safety work on four bridges on the East Coast Main Line, aimed at preventing a repeat of the Selby rail disaster, has been given the go-ahead by North Yorkshire highways chiefs.

The county council's executive has agreed to spend £100,000 from its own budget on the Railtrack-owned road-over-rail bridges, which are thought to present the greatest safety risk.

All 163 bridges over railway lines in the county were surveyed after the Selby disaster, when a Land Rover driven by Gary Hart from Lincolnshire left the M62 and was hit by a passenger train, which in turn struck a freight train.

Hart was jailed for five years earlier this month for causing ten deaths by dangerous driving. Last week it was revealed that he had appealed against his conviction.

Engineers from North Yorkshire County Council, with colleagues from County Durham, Railtrack and the Health and Safety Executive, have produced a new risk assessment model to gauge the potential hazard of bridges.

It was used to check ten of the sites considered to be the most vulnerable in North Yorkshire, leading to four being put forward as being at risk at Dalton-on-Tees, Danby Wiske, Thirsk Station, and Thorpefield near Thirsk.

Mike Moore, North Yorkshire's director of environmental services, said: "The county council has agreed to go ahead with the work before the end of March despite uncertainties over legal liability and there being little prospect of any cash contribution from Railtrack towards the cost.

"To do nothing until the liabilities regarding this matter are determined, either by the courts or by the Government, is not acceptable with respect to public safety."

A Railtrack spokeswoman said it did not have authority to work on the road system.

But she added: "We have worked closely with North Yorkshire and Durham, and other local authorities in the area.

"We will obviously continue to work closely with them to ensure safety while any work is carried out, and to develop this risk prioritisation tool."

Where safety improvements are needed, the cost is likely to be about £20,000 per bridge, according to the county council.

It has commissioned consulting engineers Mouchel to carry out detailed assessments of the remaining road-over-rail bridges. This could take more than a year.

Updated: 08:14 Wednesday, January 23, 2002