THE Government was last night accused of ignoring pleas for cash to prevent another Selby-type rail disaster.

Local authorities in the region carried out checks on railway bridge barriers following the disaster in which ten people died.

The results revealed inadequate protection for scores of bridges - many over the East Coast Main Line.

But a row over money between local authorities, the Government and Railtrack threatened to delay improvements.

Eventually, councils in County Durham and North Yorkshire decided the safety implications were too great and gave the go-ahead for improvements to the worst sites. They hoped to recoup the cash - which ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds - at a later date.

But now the Government has said no extra money will be made available.

Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a pledge to The Northern Echo to cut through red tape and speed up repairs after months of wrangling between Railtrack and local authorities.

His intervention resulted in an agreement between councils and Network Rail - which has taken over Railtrack's responsibilities - to share the burden equally.

Local authorities hoped to win extra Government cash to pay for their share.

Network Rail said: "We recognise the agreement which has been devised to help tackle an important safety issue, but there are still some formalities to resolve before it can be implemented.

"It's not a question of delays - more a case of working with our partners in a structured, effective, standardised way."

Durham and North Yorkshire county councils have spent more than £1m to repair bridge barriers on the East Coast Main Line.

Highways chiefs in North Yorkshire said they were bitterly disappointed after a bid for Government cash help failed.

Brian Jones, of North Yorkshire County Council's environmental services department, said last night: "We have received our local transport plan settlement and it is not good news. The Government have given us no money at all for repairs to barriers.

"Their reply said 'your bid for remedial work to prevent the incursion by road vehicles onto the railway is not being funded' . . . full stop. It's a great disappointment. They have ignored us."

Mr Jones said the reason given was that the council's bid for £720,000 - part of it for work already done - was considered too small when the council's roads funding runs into the millions.

The authority was told that if it considered the work to be essential, it should use some of the £18.5m roads budget.

Mr Jones said: "We have no additional money whatsoever. We have already robbed Peter to pay Paul to get where we are today.

"Other road safety programmes will suffer as a result."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "No authority was given additional funding for road-over-rail work.

"The local transport plan guidance stated that work for road-over-rail bridges would only be considered if local authorities were unable to divert funds from other works."