THE head of an influential pressure group yesterday urged the Government to intervene in the dispute over who should pay for repairs to potentially lethal railway bridge barriers.

Campaign group Rail Future is backing The Northern Echo in its campaign to secure urgent improvements to dozens of unsafe crash barriers on road-over-rail bridges throughout the region.

The organisation's demand for action comes just over a week after it emerged that more than 700 vehicles had plunged off roads and on to railway property in the past decade.

While the lengthy process of assessing the safety of thousands of bridges in the wake of the Selby rail disaster is under way, many campaigners want the Government to pledge millions of pounds to cover the costs of the necessary repairs - before tragedy strikes again.

The national risk assessment programme will take months to complete but, even when it is over, the argument over who pays the bill is likely to rage on between county councils, Railtrack and the Highways Agency.

Rail Future chairman Peter Lawrence said: "For too long this situation has not been treated seriously. It is a national issue which central Government must intervene in to end all the squabbling."

Statistics show that at least one vehicle per week is veering off the road and ending up on railway land, with many left stranded on the tracks and in grave danger of being struck by a train.

Mr Lawrence added: "Quite clearly, it is an issue that we are concerned about and, while the examination of these bridges is taking place, we would like to see the whole process speeded up in view of the fact that so many could be a danger."

The Northern Echo warned of the dangerous state of the region's bridge barriers last May, when 50 bridges were inspected along the East Coast Main Line and the majority were found to be sub-standard.

Read more about the Railway bridges campaign here.