RAILTRACK took five weeks to comply with an order to clear dangerous debris that could have been used to de-rail a train on the East Coast MainLine, it was revealed last night.

Engineers working on Britain's fastest line unwittingly put passengers' lives at risk by leaving dangerous scrap by the track near Darlington.

Rail watchdogs claim contractors regularly discard old sections of track and even used sleepers by the side of the line.

They fear vandals could drag them on to the line and derail a speeding express.

Despite the threat of prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it was five weeks before a notice to remove the junk was complied with.

Passenger groups claim Railtrack is failing to tackle a problem that could lead to a fatal accident.

Its maintenance record and practice of sub-contracting work to a myriad of firms is already under the spotlight in the wake of the crash at Potters Bar in which seven people were killed.

An interim report into the crash by the HSE has found that four nuts on the set of points at which the Great Northern train derailed were not in position and had become detached.

Rail union leaders last night called for the whole structure of maintenance to be reviewed. They said warnings about the state of the track in the area had been given before the accident.

The latest twist has thrown the spotlight on the maintenance of Britain's rail network.

The Northern Echo has learnt of increasing evidence of materials such as sections of rail being left near to tracks.

Railtrack was reprimanded in January by the HSE over materials left near to the mainline.

The incident, a few hundred yards south of Darlington railway station in what was described as a "high trespass and vandal" area, led to a notice being served on Railtrack to make improvements to storage methods or face prosecution.

The notice was eventually complied with about five weeks later.

And only yesterday reporters found sections of steel rail left lying just yards away from the East Coast Mainline at Hurworth, near Darlington.

Ernie Preston, secretary of the North-East Rail Passengers' Committee, said it had brought the matter up repeatedly with Railtrack.

"They have purges and big clear-ups, but then just let things drift," he said.

"You're talking about anything from old sleepers, sections of track, bolts being left lying about waiting for someone to pick them up.

"Kids can easily use this kind of stuff as ammunition or place it on the track and derail a train."

Brian Milnes, chairman of the Tees Valley branch of Transport 2000, said he had seen materials left in several locations for months.

He blamed the problem on an "eroding culture of safety" particularly since privatisation.

Railtrack said it had corrected the problem at Darlington railway station by building a metal-fenced compound to store engineering materials.

A spokeswoman said: "We encourage staff and contractors not to leave materials lying around which could be used by vandals.

"We also have a site clearance programme regularly in use to clear any scrap metals."