Network Rail has offered a "full and unreserved apology" to families bereaved by level crossing accidents.
Chief executive Mark Carne apologised for "failings" in managing public safety and for "failing to deal sensitively" with affected families.
Since 2010 the risk at level crossings had been reduced by a quarter, it said.
The apology came as MPs published a report heavily critical of the way the rail infrastructure company had handled tragedies in the past.
The House of Commons transport committee was particularly critical about the deaths of Olivia Bazlinton, 14, and Charlotte Thompson, 13, at Elsenham crossing, in Essex, in 2005.
Network Rail was later fined £1m for health and safety breaches in relation to the accident.
'Callous disregard'Launching the report, the transport committee's chairwoman, Louise Ellman, said: "NR has lowered the risk of death at a level crossing by 25% since 2008, but when suicides and trespass are excluded, level crossings still account for one half of all fatalities on the railway in recent years, including nine people who died in 2012-13.
"Yet, looking back, it's clear that on too many occasions Network Rail showed a callous disregard for the feelings of the families of people killed or seriously injured in accidents at level crossings.
"Victims were erroneously described as 'trespassers' or accused of 'misuse' of the railway when, in fact, they tried to use level crossings appropriately."
She said a "lack of transparency" around safety concerns at the Elsenham crossing was "particularly shocking and raises profound questions about NR's internal culture and accountability".
She told the BBC that she was "appalled" to hear "harrowing accounts" from bereaved families, who had been treated with what she termed "contempt" by Network Rail.
Reg Thompson - father of crossing accident victim, Charlotte, 13 - told the BBC:
"I still find it very difficult to understand how Network Rail failed to consider the feelings of any of the families involved.
"Now eight years and three months after Charlotte and Liv were killed, I gather from reading the transcript of the select committee report that Mr Carne is going to make a full and unreserved apology.
"Network Rail showed the utmost disregard for the families to the point that they never contacted us, showed no concern or compassion at any point.
"They made it very clear they blamed Charlotte and Liv for their demise - up and until they were forced to acknowledge their own guilt more than six years after the accident.
"All I can say is that last night when I discovered you wanted to speak to me, my eldest son said to me: 'Daddy, please let this be over.'
"My daughter died over eight years ago and still this goes on, and it goes on because of Network Rail's behaviour."
Speaking about the description of victims as "trespassers" by NR, she said: "I can only think it was NR not wanting to admit any liability, but it was inhumane, it was wrong and this must change."
And asked what she would say to Reg Thompson, the father of Elsenham victim Charlotte, she added: "Nothing can replace his lost daughter, what happened was very, very terrible, but I hope he can take some comfort in recognising that NR are now formally apologising in a very full way, and that they are going to change."
Friends Charlotte and Olivia died after walking across the tracks through an unlocked wicket gate at the crossing in December 2005. They had already waited for one train to pass, but were struck by a second train bound for Stansted Airport, in Essex.
In February 2011, evidence emerged of a report that had recommended installation of new gates that locked automatically in 2002 - three years before the girls' deaths - but this was not done until the summer of 2007.
Mr Thompson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Network Rail showed the utmost disregard for the families to the point that they never contacted us, showed no concern or compassion at any point.
"They made it very clear they blamed Charlotte and Liv for their demise - up and until they were forced to acknowledge their own guilt more than six years after the accident."
So far in 2013-14 there have been seven "accidental fatalities" at crossings, and a further 12 collisions between road vehicles and trains, according to the Rail Safety and Standards Board.
In 2012-13 nine people - including four pedestrians and five people who were in a vehicle at the time - died in accidents at level crossings.
'Watershed'Mr Carne said: "Today, I wish to extend a full and unreserved apology on behalf of Network Rail to all those whose life has been touched by a failing, however large or small, made by this company in managing public safety at level crossings and in failing to deal sensitively with the families affected.
"As we made clear when we pleaded guilty during the Elsenham court proceedings, it was a watershed in the way we thought about our approach to the risk at level crossings, and how we treat victims and their families.
"As a result of this transformation, level crossings in Britain are amongst the safest in Europe, but there is still much that we can, and will, do and the committee's recommendations will help us in that endeavour."
He said £130m had been spent on improving level crossing safety since 2010, including building footbridges to replace crossings, installing power-operated gates and introducing spoken warnings. Almost 800 crossings have been closed in that time.
He told the BBC he was "determined to change the culture of NR".
"Inherently crossing a railway has an element of risk associated with it and our job is to really understand that risk and manage it better.
"It was too easy in the past for the culture and the company to blame user misuse and not really look closely enough at our role in reducing the risk associated with those level crossings," he said.
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