The Government's pledge to end the scandal of Britain's dangerous railway bridges is set to bring more long-awaited improvements to this region in the near future.

In a major success for The Northern Echo's campaign to reduce the potential for another Selby-type disaster, Prime Minister Tony Blair has personally promised to resolve the unseemly row over who is responsible for repairs.

And the Premier's vow could bring benefits to motorists using a group of bridges in North Yorkshire, which have been identified as possible danger spots.

The county council will complete a £200,000 programme of work on its top four priority bridges next month, before asking Railtrack for its share of the cost.

And it is now likely that the authority will put out another contract for improvements to four other sites after that. These are thought to include a decaying crash barrier at Dalton, near Thirsk, as well as the bridge near Great Heck which suffered huge damage in last February's tragedy.

Brian Jones, of the environmental services department, said: "Politically, it is likely that there will be another contract.

"There isn't another contract for any more at the moment because we would need to get authority from council members to spend. But it is likely that we will be issuing a contract for another four bridges over the East Coast Main Line."

Mr Blair's promise was revealed today after he was put on the spot by The Northern Echo about the potentially lethal state of many crash barriers.

After hearing of the concerns, he announced that a national protocol - which will include Railtrack or its successor company paying its share towards repairs - would be in place by the autumn.

Mr Jones added: "Once we have finished these latest jobs we will start asking for some contribution from Railtrack - that is when the test of this protocol will come."