NETWORK Rail has been ordered to pay £210,000 after the death of a railway worker in Essex.

Malcolm Slater,a track maintenance worker, was killed in June 2008 while repairing overhead lines at Margaretting.

He was working on a 15ft-high mobile elevated platform with two colleagues when the platform became detatched and they fell to the ground.

All three were hurt and Mr Slater died from his injuries on July 1, 2008.

At Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, Network Rail was fined £125,000, plus £85,000 costs.

The sentence followed an investigation by the Office of Rail Regulation, which found the company had failed in its duty to provide suitable work equipment for its employees and had therefore failed to properly plan the repair work.

The court heard Network Rail had not provided its staff with training on working within the platform and had not identified that the overload alarm had been switched off, despite evidence showing the platform weight limit of 350kg had been exceeded on a regular basis.

Network Rail pleaded guilty to charges brought in connection with the incident at Chelmsford Crown Court on August 30.