THERE are strange things occurring on our railways. Yesterday we reported on the rubbish left trackside by railway repairers.

Everyone accepts that the rubbish is dangerous - an open invitation to the vandals that contractors Jarvis still believes might have caused the Potters Bar accident in which seven people died - but no one is going to take responsibility for it until October.

Today, we report on delays to repairs to inadequate railway bridges. Everyone accepts they are dangerous - as illustrated by the Selby accident more than a year ago in which ten people died - but only the county councils are taking responsibility.

The delays to the repairs to the wooden-fenced bridge at Dalton-on-Tees - a rickety, ramshackle affair that would barely stop a bicycle, let alone a wagon from nearby Croft Circuit - are because Northern Electric and Railtrack are in dispute.

It was to prevent such disputes that, at the time of privatisation, Railtrack was given sole responsibility for maintaining the rail infrastructure. Given the number of road bridges over the East Coast Main Line, Railtrack could be expected to have some understanding of the problem and to be taking a lead in rectifying it.

Instead, though, it has been left to North Yorkshire County Council to do the work - and get local council taxpayers to foot the bills - and stumble into the problems.

The council is to be commended for its determination to press on, but if we had a truly integrated transport system rather than the current fragmented mess, it would make everyone's life a lot easier - and safer.

Appeal to enterprise

COMMON sense prevailed at the Court of Appeal yesterday when John Mark Collinson's six-month prison sentence for stealing lost golf balls from a lake was replaced by a conditional discharge.

His big mistake was not getting permission from the golf club into whose lake he delved, and that is indefensible.

But the rest of his actions are to be applauded: he saw a gap in the market and went for it, he worked anti-social hours so as not to disturb the golfers, he provided many agricultural amateurs with a valuable service, and he even paid his taxes.

Such entrepreneurial spirit should not be crushed by a prison term.