Work to start on railway bridges

Four Railtrack bridges in Darlington borough have been highlighted as in need of high priority work in an independent survey commissioned following the Selby rail crash, last February.

The work is expected to be completed within six months, possibly sooner, and another five bridges designated as needing lower priority action are likely to have it carried out in the coming years.

Already this year, Durham County Council has completed safety work on three bridges and North Yorkshire County Council has earmarked £100,000 for four bridges on the East Coast Main *ine.

Work on a fourth County Durham bridge, at Browney Lane, near Croxdale, started this month.

As well as barriers on both approaches to the bridge, and across its span, the £62,500 scheme has seen upgrading of the road surface, drainage and kerbs, as well as stabilisation of the embankment, which has suffered slippage.

A spokesman for the North Yorkshire authority said last night that work on its highlighted bridges would begin as soon as possible.

He said: "We are just waiting for electricity work to be completed, then the whole programme will swing into operation."

The four high priority bridges in the Darlington area are at Brafferton Mill, Brafferton, Salters Lane and Hurworth Place, all straddling the East Coast Main *ine. They are the borough's first in line for safety crash barriers.

While uncertainty still surrounds the question of responsibility for the bridges, Darlington council is, like North Yorkshire and County Durham, pressing ahead with remedial work on the four worst bridges, costing about £80,000.

The cost is being met from the authority's Local Transport Plan Bridge Maintenance Fund.

Other rail bridges at Thompson Street East and Haughton Road, Darlington, designated as medium priority, are scheduled for similar work in 2003/4, while bridges at Dinsdale Station and Burtree have been deemed low priority. One at Teesside Airport is seen as safe.