EFFORTS were being made yesterday to identify the body of a man who was killed after being struck by a train on the main railway line near Redruth

The incident happened on Monday at an isolated foot crossing between Treleigh Industrial Estate and Mount Ambrose Factory Shop, 200 metres from the Treleigh over-bridge.

Walkers who cross the line are warned on a notice to "stop, look, listen" but there is no clearly defined path and they have to step across the railway lines.

The man, who has not been identified but is believed to have been in his fifties, is thought to have walked in front of the 12.10 Wessex train, travelling from Penzance to Bristol, at around 12.50pm.

The death follows the fatal train crash at Ufton Nervet near Reading on the same line on November 8. Seven people died after a man thought to be committing suicide parked his car across a level crossing in front of the Paddington to Plymouth express.

Lynette Skellington, a secretary at Treleigh Junior and Infant School, said she saw the aftermath of the Cornwall incident on her return from lunch.

Mrs Skellington said: "The train was all over at an angle. I was coming back to work and there was an ambulance and three police cars and the train was certainly not standing upright."

She said the two-carriage train was lying between the two crossings, just before the railway bridge.

"I was very concerned that children might be able to see it from the playground but I checked and they couldn't. I found it - for want of a better word - 'spooky'. We heard of this big crash a few weeks ago and you tend to think it's never going to happen near you."

The secretary added that at first she wondered if it was a practice for a major incident, because they had heard nothing about it.

"We thought if it was a major incident they would have wanted to use the school hall," she said. The accident caused major disruption to passengers, with the line closed for almost two hours.

Simon Lubin, from the British Transport Police, said the down-line, heading towards Penzance, was eventually reopened at 1.47pm, with the up-line, towards Bristol, reopening at 2.33pm.

Andrew Griffiths, a spokesman for Wessex trains, said: "All I can say is that we very much regret it happening. Obviously the cause will be looked in to. The driver, in those circumstances, is immediately relieved and he will be fully counselled - as, indeed, will anybody else who was involved in it."

He added that the company very much regretted the substantial delays that resulted.

Dennis Lovett, a spokesman for Virgin Trains - who are another major user of the line - said he saw the warnings of delays on a station board in London. The notice said that trains in Cornwall had been severely delayed due to a fatality at Redruth, he said.

Although the train involved was not owend by Virgin, Mr Lovett said that the procedure would be similar for all companies.

"Obviously it does affect not just the families of the person involved but also the train crew and indeed the passengers. It is quite a traumatic experience," he said.

Mr Lovett added that unfortunately these incidents happened shockingly regularly. "Sadly, we do have these things once or twice a week, which is perhaps a bit worrying really," he said.

The man was confirmed dead at the scene by paramedics and his body was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital mortuary in Truro.

British Transport Police were yesterday working to identify him from his fingerprints.

The incident occurred on the same day that a government body, the Strategic Rail Authority, launched its plans to get more passengers travelling on the rural railway lines.

The scheme aims to secure the future of the lines by cutting costs and encouraging increased usage through community involvement.