North Yorkshire is set to be hit by a fresh wave of job losses.

Rail signalling specialist Westinghouse, which has a plant in York employing 130 people, is preparing to axe about 150 jobs at its six sites across the UK.

And up to 18 jobs will be lost when North Yorkshire's roads maintenance and property management services transfer to a private consultancy group in April.

The five-year contract, worth up to £8 million, was won by Mouchel last year, and will officially start when 64 county council-based staff transfer to the company's new office based in Northallerton.

The number of compulsory redundancies will depend on how many people can get jobs in neighbouring councils or within North Yorkshire, said John Brown, head of the consultancy at the council.

The jobs affected range from laboratory assistants to engineers. "However, if we had not moved to the private firm and made savings there would have been more job losses," said Mr Brown.

Westinghouse, whose parent company is part of the recent BTR/Siebe merger, declined today to reveal exactly how many jobs will go across the country, or where the axe will fall.

A spokeswoman at Westinghouse's head office in Chippenham, Wiltshire, said: "We're looking top to bottom nationwide, but don't know whether there will be any job losses at York." The Evening Press reported yesterday that Railtrack is looking for cheaper equipment produced abroad.

Westinghouse said the decision could have long-term implications for it, and it is believed the job losses are linked to Railtrack's actions.

Tendering activity on resignalling by the infrastructure giant, responsible for tracks, signalling and stations, is slowing down following a report by consultants McKinsey, advocating "rehabilitation rather than replacement" of signalling equipment. York MP Hugh Bayley appealed today for the city's plant to be spared the cuts, saying: "York has already taken far, far more than its fair share of railway job losses as a result of rail privatisation.

"If cuts have to be made I hope the company will look to other areas where there are more alternative jobs."

He urged Railtrack to speed up the replacement of ageing signals, including those at Leeds railway station, which could provide work.

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