CCTV footage shows train inches from hitting pedestrian at Essex crossing where two girls killed
WATCH: Passenger dices with death at Essex level crossing (Credit: Network Rail).
Shocking footage has been released of a near miss at a level crossing which killed two teenage girls almost 20 years ago.
The CCTV footage at Elsenham, in Essex, shows two passengers climbing around fencing to avoid the locked gates at the level crossing next to the station.
The female passenger runs across the train tracks to get on a stationary train, but as the other passenger starts to follow her, she jumps backwards quickly before a train speeds past just metres from where she is standing.
The Network Rail footage of the incident in April comes 18 years after Charlotte Thompson, 13, and Olivia Bazlinton, 14, were killed at the railway in 2005.
Warning lights had indicated a train was approaching, but the girls crossed after one train had stopped at the station and were hit by a second train.
Network Rail was fined £1m for breaching health and safety laws, with a judge saying "inefficient incompetency" had "entered the realm of criminal failure" at the crossing.
Network Rail subsequently built a footbridge and enabled the gates to be locked shut when a train approaches.
Nationally it also appointed over 100 level crossing managers to improve the safety of such crossings.
More than 1,300 level crossings have since been closed, while full barriers and clearer warnings have been installed at other crossings.
However, the company said the measures do not eliminate the risk of accidents, with 42 near-misses already occurring across the East of England so far in 2023.
People are being reminded never to take risks at level crossings or the railway.
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