"The driver was being extremely vigilant and acted immediately.
"Imagine if the driver was staring out the window, we would be talking about a different outcome."
He speculated the tracks would have been dry at the time of the incident which would have made the train easier to stop.
Trains were "not a wheelbarrow", he said.
"You can't just drop the handles and stop it.
"All you do is put the brakes on and you become a very, very reluctant spectator.
"You'll see the face of the person. They'll lock eye contact with you and then it happens.
"Its terrible," he said.
Throughout the years, Mr Butson had seen drivers' careers "ruined" due to their trains hitting a pedestrian or car.
"It can leave lasting scars.
"We have had train drivers who had hit a person and this had damaged them so severely they couldn't drive trains anymore.
"They've lost their career, lost their income through absolutely no fault of their own," he said.
Mr Butson said the union had negotiated with rail employers so a train driver who were involved in accidents were stood down immediately for a minimum of three days. The crew on the train were also stood down.
They would be provided with counselling with the main message being "it's not your fault".
"You're just doing your job and you shouldn't take any ownership and responsibility for what happened," Mr Butson said.
Mr Butson wished people would "respect the tracks".
"I've seen people busy doing something else and their prams rolling away.
"This isn't a one-off event. These events keep happening," he said.
He wished rail corridors were fully fence, like many countries around the world.
"Despite all of the signage and advertising we seem to see the things happening all the time," he said.
