Transport Secretary Stephen Byers last night cranked up the pressure on troubled Arriva Trains Northern by slamming its poor performance.

Mr Byers said the driver shortages suffered by the company were "simply not good enough".

Arriva has cut more than 1,000 rail services across the region because of a lack of fully trained drivers.

It was fined £2m by the Strategic Rail Authority and now has to hit stringent driver recruitment targets or face further penalties. Mr Byers, speaking at a rail passengers' conference in London, said Arriva had been slow to act to cure the problem.

He said: "These shortages could have been foreseen. Action should have been taken earlier. Passengers deserve better.

For many people the journey by rail is a nightmare. When people say that their journey into the office is the worst part of their day then clearly we have got something wrong.

He defended the decision to place Railtrack into administration during his speech to the conference, adding that the Government had to act decisively in order to put the public interest first.

According to reports yesterday, Mr Byers is drawing up proposals to boost investment in the railways by attempting to borrow funds earmarked for long-term road projects.

This has led to fears that projects such as the full dualling of the A66 between Scotch Corner and Penrith, may be put on the back burner.

The cross-Pennine route - notorious for high numbers of casualties over the years - is single stretch in some parts and has seen dozens of deaths in recent years.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Michael Hesletine, who has supported calls by The Northern Echo for improvements to the A66, said: "I do fear that if they are taking money away for roads it would be an excuse to take it away from the A66."

But a spokesman for the Department of Transport insisted the Government's planned ten-year £60bn road building programme would not suffer.

She said: "The programme was always designed to be flexible with funding being phased in.

"Spending plans will not change for any part of the programme."