The teenagers were killed on their way to catch a train

Network Rail assessed the crossing in Elsenham, Essex, in April last year.

Eight months later Olivia Bazlinton, 14, and her friend Charlotte Thompson, 13, died while crossing the line.

The risks at the station were among the highest at any pedestrian crossing on the mainline network, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said.

Olivia, from Elsenham, and Charlotte, from nearby Thaxted, were killed on 3 December last year.

New risk assessment

They stepped into the path of a train on the crossing at Elsenham despite the continued display of a red light and the sounding of an audible alarm.

The girls had purchased tickets from the booking office on the east side of the line and were in the process of walking to the opposite platform to catch a train to Cambridge.

The RAIB report said it was likely the accident occurred when the girls failed to see the risk from trains travelling in the opposite direction.

The original report gave Elsenham a risk "score" of 28 which meant no action was required to improve safety.

Earlier fatality

A Network Rail re-inspection two days after the girls' death gave a score of 47, which triggers the need for additional risk control measures to be considered.

The RAIB report also said no allowance had been made for special local factors such as the number of school-aged users.

The report also revealed there had been an earlier fatality at Elsenham in 1989.

Network Rail now proposes to shut off pedestrian access when the vehicle gates are closed to the highway and also to construct a footbridge.

Olivia's father Chris said: "The RAIB report proves what we already suspected - that Network Rail and its predecessors chose to ignore the evidence that the crossing at Elsenham was unsafe.