Aid for train driver, police after death

The pedestrian was killed by the train in Avondale. Photo / Greg Bowker

The driver of a train that hit and killed a pedestrian yesterday has been stood down and offered counselling to help cope with the experience.

Police who attended the scene have also been offered support.

The victim died after being hit by the KiwiRail train about 7am near the Avondale Station.

It is not known how or why the person was on the tracks.

Police are investigating the death on behalf of the coroner and said they were not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

They were still working to identify the victim last night, and could not give any details including sex or age.

"There was nothing obvious there to lead to the identification of the person," said Detective Inspector Mark Benefield.

"We're just working through what happened."

Mr Benefield said the incident was traumatic for everyone involved.

"It was not a nice incident to deal with. We have a welfare and trauma policy for all of our staff."

Auckland Transport spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said the chief executive of KiwiRail would visit the driver.

"Such incidents, as you can imagine, are very traumatic for train drivers," she said.

Former train driver Terry Bristowe sympathised with the driver involved in yesterday's death.

Mr Bristowe, from Trentham, ran over two people in three years while driving trains for Tranz Metro.

In 1999, he was driving an early- morning train that hit a 19-year-old woman. In 2002, on the same line, he hit a man in his mid-20s.

He left his job because of the trauma he suffered.

"You don't expect that sort of thing to happen. You have permission to be on the tracks, you have a right. People don't," he said.

"You can't stop, that's the worst part. You see them and you put on the emergency brakes and expect the train to stop. You hope it will stop. But to me, it just felt like the train was going faster."

Mr Bristowe said he felt angry after both deaths.

"I was brassed off that I'd hit them. I was also brassed off at the person for being on the tracks. It was something unreal."

He said that after each of the deaths, he kept playing the scene over in his mind.

It was important for the Auckland driver to know the death was not his fault.