Railtrack was back under the cosh today over the problem of potentially lethal trackside junk.

The North-East branch of the Rail Passengers Committee condemned the amount of engineering junk left lying beside railway lines in the region.

The passenger watchdog said an "alarming amount" of such debris had been found by its members.

Earlier this year The Northern Echo revealed how Railtrack was facing action from the Health and Safety Executive after taking too long to remove rail junk from the East Coast Mainline.

North Durham MP Kevan Jones then raised the issue in the House of Commons.

In its annual report for 2001/2 the North-East Rail Passengers Committee said debris was being left trackside not only during work operations but also long after they had finished.

The report said: "In our opinion this invites vandalism with the possibility of serious, if not dangerous consequences."

Railtrack has admitted there is a backlog of up to 15 years of rail junk waiting to be cleared from Britain's railways.

It has a national trackside clearance programme in place which is due to end in October and says it is attempting to prioritise areas of concern.

Rail junk can include anything from old sleepers to sections of track and other rubbish left by the public.

A Railtrack spokeswoman said the clearance programme was at different stages across the country, but was being regularly reviewed.

Any scrap contractors had left of less than six foot in length was being removed immediately.

She said: "There may be longer lengths of rail deemed to be safe and being left for use in another job or for which specialist equipment is needed to lift it.

"Anything though that could be lifted or moved by trespassers we would ask contractors to remove as soon as possible."