THE husband of a woman who died after the car she was in was in collision with a train at a Herefordshire level crossing believes that cost was the reason why proper safety measures were not installed.

Jane Harding died following the accident that happened at the Moreton-on-Lugg crossing in January 2010.

Her husband Mark, who was driving the car, sustained serious injuries, but survived the crash.

Carol Anne Thornwell and her 12-year-old daughter, who were travelling in a separate car, were also involved in the collision, but both survived.

Network Rail was yesterday fined £450,000 and told to pay court costs of £33,000 after it was found guilty of failing in its duty for the health and safety of railway and railway crossing users by not installing an approach locking system at the crossing.

The mechanism, Birmingham Crown Court heard, would have prevented the collision after signalman Adrian Maund lifted the barriers to allow vehicles to pass the crossing.

Maund, aged 43, of Caswell Crescent, Leominster, was also found guilty of failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of railway crossing users.

The court heard that he became distracted after taking two phone calls from a farmer asking if he could take his sheep along the crossing.

He was fined £1,750, ordered to do 275 hours of unpaid work and told to pay £750 in court costs.

In a statement, Mark Harding said that a significant factor in Network Rail's decision not to make improvements at the crossing was "cost related."

"Industry standards relating to barrier locking at manually controlled crossings were considerted, but put aside by management, whose responsibility it was to design and implement the crossing upgrades," said Mr Harding.

"The subsequent Rail Accident Investigation Branch report recommended future planning for level crossing improvements should be formally linked with Health and Safety assessments.

"It also recommended that the crossing at Moreton-on-Lugg - and all others of a smiliar design - should be reviewed to ensure human error can never again result in such a tragic outcome."

Network Rail has since confirmed that alterations have been made at the crossing, costing more than £100,000.

The system, which was installed in 2011, results in controls in the signal box being disabled whenever a train hits a treadle on the track.

Mr Harding added that he received an apology from Network Rail three years ago accepting some responsibility for the accident, but has never had such contact with Maund.

"I accept that he did not go to work that morning with any intention to cause a catastrophic accident," said Mr Harding.

"However, in my opinion, his actions leading up to Jane's death were far from the professional standards required of staff who have responsibility for ensuring the safety of people using the rail network.

"Whilst he has not previously been responsibile for any such incident, unfortunately the same cannot be said of Network Rail.

"This is not the first time the organisation has had to face criminal proceedings and convictions for breaches of health and safety law.

"If Jane's passing is to have any meaning, it will be that, in future, rail and road users will be placed at the forefront of those in the rail industry whose responsibility it is to ensure the general public's safety at level crossings.

"Safety - not cost - must be the top priority.

"The cost of any life, as we can testify, is incalculable."