A witness heard a radio blaring as he ran up to a car hit by a train at a level crossing this morning.
Police were investigating the cause of the accident, which happened about 8.30am near Otamarakau.
Witness Colin Campbell said he heard the radio up loud as he ran up to the car seconds after the train finally came to a stop, the car in front of it.
The car had been shunted several hundred metres from the collision point at the turnoff from State Highway 2 into the Sandpit campground, at the western end of the Matata straits.
Digger driver Stan Keane did not remember the radio. All he remembered hearing was the car's horn going.
He had been in his digger clearing out the drain about 80 metres from the crossing when he heard the train approaching.
"I spun around and was gonna wait for the train and give him a wave when I saw there was a car stuck to the front. It took me a second to figure out. I just thought 'what the hell' then I realised," he said.
A Kiwirail spokesman said the locomotive engineer driving the train was distressed but not injured.
He was being offered support.
Several witnesses reported hearing the train's multiple toots as it approached the crossing.
Ruth Montgomery, who has been camping at the Sandpit Campground in Otamarakau for a few weeks, said she was taking her dogs outside when she heard a big crash.
"Prior to that, I heard the train really blowing its horn. Next thing, there was a big crash.
"I looked up and the train had impacted on the car and was pushing it along the line.
"It was just awful, there was sparks and glass and you could see the driver in the car and the poor driver of the train holding on like he was pushing on the brakes."
In a statement the police said they were working to inform the man's next of kin.