Railtrack caused a storm last night by demanding an extra £2bn of public money for improvements to the railways - as further safety concerns were raised in the North-East.

The company, which announced that it made a £534m loss last year, was also attacked for continuing to reward its shareholders despite its poor performance.

Railtrack's cash plea came as a report raised concerns about the safety of more railway bridges in the region.

Durham County Council has already installed £20,000 barriers at Plawsworth, near Chester-le-Street, where drivers crossing the East Coast Mainline faced a "significant risk".

Now a new survey has revealed that work should be carried out at a further three bridges, at Bradbury, Aycliffe and Hett, and that bridges on branch lines require improvement.

Surveyors have checked the Sunderland-Middlesbrough, Stockton-Darlington, and Darlington-Bishop Auckland-Eastgate branch lines, and the currently disused Leamside Line between Ferryhill and Pelaw in Gateshead.

They have found that new barriers are needed on the approaches to the A689 Sedgefield Station New Bridge, which cross the Stockton-Darlington line.

Barriers are also needed on the south-western approach to the bridge over the Darlington-Eastgate line at Wolsingham. Although the track between Bishop Auckland and Eastgate is not currently in use, a company has plans to run passenger services.

There are also proposals to reopen the mothballed Leamside line, and the report says that 30 metres of barrier will have to be installed on the one corner of the bridge at Station Road, Leamside, near Durham City.

Many of the bridges are thought to be Railtrack's responsibility and the results of the survey will be passed to the company.

The Northern Echo recently highlighted the dangers at East Coast Mainline bridges from Tyneside to North Yorkshire and has received strong backing for its campaign for improvements to be carried out.

The report will make grim reading for Railtrack, coming on the day it plunged into the red as a result of the huge cost of restoring the country's rail network following the Hatfield crash last October.

Chief executive Steve Marshall said the company would be going to the Government next summer for an extra £2bn of public money.

If the Government gives the go-ahead, Railtrack will add the cash bonanza to an advance of £1.5bn it has also ready received.

Shareholders were to receive a total 2000-2001 dividend of 26.9p - the same as the 1999-2000 figure.

Last night, Peter Rayner, a former senior British Rail manager and advisor to the Commons Transport Select Committee, said: "This company has been paid vast sums to maintain the railway infrastructure and has not done so.

"For them to want billions of pounds worth of public money is totally unreasonable.

"Taxpayers should be entitled to take back some of the infrastructure given to Railtrack at a knockdown price if this is the case."

Mr Rayner added that Railtrack was making "£1m a day" simply on property it owned across the country.

Brian Millns, of the Tees Valley branch of campaign group Transport 2000, said: "There is a lot of waste in the system operated by Railtrack.

"I also find it difficult to understand how it is possible for it to continue rewarding its shareholders when the railway has been so badly managed."

It is also to pay an extra £100m to the train operating companies for disruption in the wake of Hatfield.

A Railtrack spokesman said that any extra money would help pay for the renewal and maintenance of the network. It rewarded its shareholders so they would continue to invest in the company.

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