Rail crossing has claimed two lives

A fatal level-crossing crash is the second at the site in as many years.

An elderly man was killed yesterday afternoon when the Toyota Corolla he was driving collided with a train near Morrinsville in the Waikato about 3.20pm.

An elderly woman passenger was able to walk from the scene and was taken to Waikato Hospital by ambulance with moderate to serious injuries.

Police confirmed another elderly man was killed at the same crossing at an awkward intersection west of the town two years ago.

In yesterday’s crash, both the car and the train were heading east towards Morrinsville from Hamilton.

Police are not sure what caused the crash and are investigating.

It is not clear how fast either vehicle was travelling but the car was written off with extensive damage to the rear.

Witness Leah Conway, who lives opposite the railway crossing, said she was surprised to not hear the train approaching the intersection.

She didn’t notice the warning bells sounding either until after she had heard the noise of the crash.

“I didn’t really want to go and look, I didn’t know what it would be like,” she said.

She said the railway crossing did not have traffic barriers.

KiwiRail’s group general manager of asset management, David Gordon, said a 716m-long freight train carrying goods between Auckland and Tauranga struck the car.

“This is a terrible accident to occur on what is a busy stretch of line at a crossing with bells and warning lights, which our monitoring system shows were operating at the time,” he said.

He said the train driver was not injured but had been stood down and would receive support.

The Serious Crash Unit will be investigating.