A RAIL maintenance company was fined a total of £500,000 for breaches of health and safety regulations following two freight train derailments.

The cases, at York Crown Court, were brought against Jarvis Fastline by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

While doing track relaying work, the York-based company had failed to check properly the track before trains were allowed to run, the court was told.

''Although no one was injured in these derailments, it was simply luck that there were no passenger trains caught up in the accidents," HSE inspector Mike Smith said after the case.

''I am sure the size of the fine will send a clear message to all rail companies that they cannot afford to ignore safety.''

The prosecutions followed investigations by the HSE's Railway Inspectorate into a derailment on March 14, 1999, at Atlas Curve, between MetroCentre station and Dunston station on the Newcastle to Carlisle line and into a derailment on August 29 last year near Desborough, Northamptonshire, between Kettering and Market Harborough stations.