Investigation after rail line death

INVESTIGATIONS were taking place today after a person died after being hit by a train on the main railway line to London.

The incident happened on the Norwich to Liverpool Street line close to Needham Market railway station - causing some disruption to services.

British Transport Police, who are handling the investigation, said at this stage it was not possible to tell whether it was a man or a woman who had been killed.

The incident happened about 11pm last night near Gipsy Lane.

A spokesman for BT Police said the incident had not happened on the level crossing but further along the line, not far from Needham station.

He said: “There is a foot crossing there but whether the person was on the foot crossing or another part of the line is not clear at this stage.

“Our investigations are in the early stages and will continue for most of the day.

“Because the incident happened at night it has been more difficult to deal with and we need to determine exactly what happened.”

He said there had been some delays to late night services on the line, which had re-opened at 5.18am, and this morning trains were running normally.

It is understood Suffolk BTP officers were called out to deal with the incident but one leading officer had to travel from Surrey, causing some delay to the start of the investigation.

A spokeswoman for train operator National Express East Anglia said the line closure had caused some disruption to peak time services.

The first train able to get through was the 5.10am Norwich-London, but then four trains had to be cancelled and substituted with a bus service for commuters while efforts were made to get the timetable back to normal again.

By 9am services were running normally.

Were you affected by the disruption? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk