TRANSPORT officials are making no apology for the slow pace of progress on making Swindon's rail bridges safer more than a year after the Selby rail crash that killed 10 people.

Transport experts from Swindon council launched an investigation into the safety of the town's rail bridges immediately after the Selby crash last February, which happened after a car fell onto the track into the path on a Newcastle-London express.

The investigation found that two bridges at Bridge End Lane in Greenbridge and Ermin Street in Upper Stratton did not have barriers separating the road from the railway line.

But councillors are unlikely to debate a report on what improvements, if any, need to be made to the bridges for at least another month, while no date for starting any work has been set.

The slow progress on improvements has baffled the man who raised the alarm over the Swindon bridges immediately after the Selby crash.

The pensioner from Coleview, who asked not to be named, told the Evening Advertiser last March: "I saw there was no barrier (at Greenbridge) and I just couldn't believe it, especially after what happened in Selby."

And after noticing that improvements had still not been made at Greenbridge a year later, he said: "I was absolutely astonished when I approached that roundabout.

"When you look over to the left there's a complete drop over the railway line, and no barrier there whatsoever."

There is a set of pedestrian railings between the bridge at Greenbridge and the roundabout, but the pensioner said he thought that would never stop a car crashing onto the line.

"I thought it was absolutely disgusting that nothing has been done," he said.

"An accident is bound to come sooner or later but I'm wondering if it's my family or somebody else's that will be unfortunate."

The council's group officer for traffic management and road safety, Adrian Dean, denied the council had been wasting time over the issue.

He said the borough's seven rail bridges had been surveyed, the survey results considered in detail, and a further statistical assessment carried out.

"It has taken some time," he admitted, but added the fact that there had not been a Selby-style disaster in Swindon in the past year showed the chances of one happening here were not high.

The council's spokeswoman on transport and environment, Jemima Milton, also said she felt a thorough approach was needed to the question of bridge safety.

But she added the bridges were probably less likely to be the site of an accident than many other local roads.

"Personally, I don't think bridges are too high up the list of things that need to be done.

"There's a risk in everything. We have got many other road safety issues, and my main concern is where young children are crossing the roads."

Mr Dean also said the recent release of the Government's own report into post-Selby bridge safety had meant more work was needed on the council report, and thus a further delay.