VIC:Woman dies after being hit by train

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2011
VIC:Woman dies after being hit by train

MELBOURNE, Feb 10 AAP - A woman has died after being hit by a train while walking across
railway tracks at a busy suburban Melbourne station.

The woman was crossing the tracks at Bentleigh Railway Station in Melbourne's southeast
when she was hit by a city-bound express train, police said.

Initial reports indicated the warning lights at the crossing were operating at the
time, police said.

There were reports that the woman, aged in her 60s, was with her husband at the time.

Initial reports suggested it was an accident, a police spokeswoman earlier said.

Ambulance Victoria spokesman Paul Bentley said paramedics arrived within four minutes
of the incident, which occurred at 8.45am (AEDT) on Thursday, and confirmed the woman
had died.

No one else was injured.

The Centre Road level crossing has claimed a life before.

Fifteen-year-old Alana Nobbs died when she was struck by a city-bound express train
at Bentleigh station in November 2004.

She was one of three people killed on the crossing in six years.

Alana's father campaigned for the crossing to be upgraded, calling for an underground
station to be built instead.

The crossing was upgraded after Alana's death.

A 2006 inquest into her death heard she had been walking to meet friends on the station
platform before school when she pushed through a pedestrian safety barrier at the level
crossing and was struck by a train.

AAP mn/gfr/dep

KEYWORD: CROSSING UPDATE

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