URGENT bridge repairs will take place across North Yorkshire to prevent a repeat of the Great Heck crash.

There are 33 road-over-rail bridges across the county which have been identified as potentially hazardous and in need of improvements.

Additional fencing and signs may be brought in to protect the East Coast Main Line tracks from the danger of vehicles straying on to them.

Railtrack is in close consultation with North Yorkshire County Council over plans to improve safety at a number of sites. The issue will be discussed at a meeting of the county council executive tomorrow.

The new safety measures have become a priority since a Land Rover and trailer careered off the M62 in February on to the line where it was hit by a GNER passenger train.

The Newcastle to King's Cross service then hit a freight train travelling north. Ten people were killed in the accident.

The county council has surveyed all the bridges in the county and drawn up a list of the ten most urgently in need of work.

These ten include those which have a sharp bend on the approach - increasing the risk of accidents.

"In the light of the Great Heck tragedy we are looking to improve safety on road bridges over railway lines," said Brian Jones, client manager in the council's environmental services department.

"We are meeting with Railtrack to identify a method of prioritising the bridges so we can begin work as soon as possible.

"We have picked out ten at this stage but these may not be the ones we work on."

He said that £20,000 would be needed for each bridge.

Mr Jones said there had been a number of incidents across the county where vehicles had strayed on to rail tracks, apart from the Great Heck crash.

Elsewhere, a lorry crashed on to a rail line near Bedford last month and caught fire. Another vehicle crashed on to the Preston to Manchester line, killing the driver.

A spokesman for Railtrack confirmed the company was in consultation with North Yorkshire County Council in order to "risk-rank" the bridges.

"We want to try to prevent a repeat of what happened at Great Heck," said the spokesman.

"It is important that we look at the risks on the different bridges and come to a solution as to which need work on as soon as possible."

Updated: 11:16 Monday, September 24, 2001