THE state of Britain's rail infrastructure is to be raised at a meeting with the Railway Inspectorate this week, following a investigation by The Northern Echo.

Following concern over the amount of junk left by engineers working on the East Coast main line, The Northern Echo carried out its own probe.

We travelled between York and Newcastle and logged more than 140 instances of redundant material lying next to the track, almost exclusively lengths of steel track, but also concrete sleepers, bolts and other debris.

Although The Northern Echo has chosen not to identify the precise areas where debris is located, particular problems were noted in County Durham, near Darlington, and just outside York.

Between Newcastle and Durham, we noted 26 areas containing trackside junk. There were 41 such sites between Durham and Darlington, 27 between Darlington and Northallerton, and a further 54 on the stretch between Northallerton and York.

There were occasional instances of concrete sleepers, bolts, wooden sleepers and, in one case, felled tree trunks, which could have been rolled on to the track from an embankment.

Although some of the discarded metal would be too heavy to lift, safety campaigners fear it is only a matter of time before vandals try to use it to derail a train.

Railtrack said it recognised the problem and hoped to clear the line by October.

But last night North-East MP Kevan Jones called on Railtrack to speed up the programme.

He said: "I find these revelations to be very disturbing indeed.

"Railtrack needs to take action as soon as possible if it is to rebuild public confidence in the railways.

"In the wake of Potters Bar, the Government urgently needs to look at issues such as this."

Industry watchdog the North-East Rail Passengers' Committee pledged to raise the matter at a meeting this week.

Secretary Ernie Preston said he hoped to discuss the matter with Philip Purkiss, principal inspector of railways for the Health and Safety Executive in the North-East.

He said: "We have a lot of intelligence about things that are happening out there, which could be of use to the Railway Inspectorate.

"There are hotspots on the railways where trespass and vandalism is a problem and where stuff is left lying by Railtrack that they should be shifting pretty quickly.

"The Northern Echo's coverage exposing this is a good thing to put on our list when we meet."

The inspectorate can issue enforcement notices forcing Railtrack, or its contractors, to clear up debris.

In his report last September, Lord Cullen called for tighter supervision of contractors working on the rail network within six months.

Last month, the Health and Safety Commission said the deadline had not been met.

Railtrack said: "We have now formalised an action plan to clear scrap across the network by October."

Unions welcomed the move but went on to say the work needed to be speeded up.

Alan Dodd, North-East secretary of the train drivers' union, Aslef, said: "We have been complaining for many years about the redundant track left behind after repair work."

* Reporter Gavin Engelbrecht was highly commended for his investigative work into rail safety at the North-East Press Awards at the weekend.