Network Rail fined £1m over teenage girls' deaths Olivia Bazlinton, 14, and Charlotte Thompson, 13, were hit by a train in 2005 as they crossed the tracks at Elsenham station footpath crossing in Essex. Judge David Turner QC, sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court, fined the authority responsible for the UK's railway network £1 million and ordered it to pay £60,000 costs. Olivia and Charlotte were killed on December 3 2005 as they crossed a footpath leading to Elsenham station platform. The crossing was fitted with warning lights and yodel alarms. A London-to-Cambridge train passed over the crossing with the red lights and yodel sounding - a warning for foot passengers not to cross. After the train passed, the lights remained on and the alarms continued to sound as another train, travelling from Birmingham to Stansted Airport in Essex, was going to pass through the station. The girls opened the unlocked wicket gates and walked on to the crossing. They were both struck by the Stansted train and killed. Last November, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) announced that it would prosecute Network Rail over those deaths after reopening its investigation into the accident. The move came after the Transport Salaried Staffs Association joined the girls' families in demanding a public inquiry amid claims that two safety documents were not disclosed to the Essex coroner at the 2007 inquest into the deaths. At a hearing in January, Network Rail pleaded guilty to three health and safety breaches. The authority admitted failing to carry out a sufficient risk assessment, failing to properly control protective measures at the level crossing, and failing to prevent the girls from being exposed to the risks which led to their deaths. Network Rail chief executive Sir David Higgins said: "On behalf of Network Rail I apologise for the mistakes made by us in this tragic case that contributed to the deaths of Olivia and Charlotte. Nothing we can say or do will lessen the pain felt by Olivia and Charlotte's families but I have promised the families that we will make level crossings safer, and we will deliver on that promise. Fundamental changes to the way we manage and look after the country's 6,500 level crossings have, and are being made. In recent years we have reassessed all of our crossings and closed over 500. There is still much to do and we are committed to doing what is necessary to improve our level crossings. ORR's director of railway safety, Ian Prosser, said: "Today's sentencing marks the end of the rail regulator's criminal prosecution in this case. Network Rail failed Olivia and Charlie and their families by not addressing the safety risks at the crossing, and the consequences were devastating. It is right that the company has apologised and pleaded guilty to breaches of health and safety law that led to their tragic and preventable deaths. He went on: "Safety on Britain's railways is my chief priority - and while Britain's railways are safe, and safety is constantly improving, it is vital that the whole rail industry continues to work together to ensure that incidents such as this do not happen again. I support (Network Rail chief executive) Sir David Higgins' moves since his arrival to enhance the safety culture at Network Rail, and his focus on driving safety improvements at level crossings. But, as I have repeatedly said, if the regulator continues to have to step in to enforce safety improvements, or bring prosecutions where things have gone wrong - as we have already done this year - then, despite progress, it is clear that Network Rail has significant work still to do. Today I would like to pay tribute to Olivia and Charlie's families and to the inspectors at ORR for their dedication and perseverance over the years. I am determined that the whole rail industry focuses on pushing forward safety improvements. Transport Salaried Staffs Association leader Manuel Cortes said: "The actions of senior Network Rail management in this case were wicked beyond belief. If they had acted on either of these two hidden safety reports, the two schoolgirls would still be alive today. And the fact that they have spent the past six years hiding the truth from the grieving parents is truly shocking. The culture at the top of this company was simply morally bankrupt. Judge David Turner QC accused Network Rail of "corporate blindness." "The company unreservedly apologises for its failures which contributed to the deaths of these young girls," he said. Network Rail, in part by itself and in part through its predecessor Railtrack, failed to ensure that the risks were properly assessed, controlled or managed. The company concedes that the procedures or standards in place for conducting level crossing risk assessments before 2005 were deficient. He added: "Narrow thinking, culpable corporate blindness and a complacency going beyond merely inefficient incompetency to entering the realm of criminal failure." He said it was "poignant" that the girls had been holding hands at the time of their deaths. Mr Hudd's memorandum was "chillingly pressing," he added.