The crash scene near Waikanae this morning. Photo: Supplied
Commuters rushed to help a driver after his truck was struck by a train at a crossing in Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast.
Emergency services were called to the scene near Elizabeth Street shortly after 6.15am on Wednesday.
Police said no one was injured and roads near Waikanae Station had reopened later in the day.
The train appeared to have been a freight service with no passengers, a police spokesperson said.
Photo: Supplied
The train line was closed and roads were closed near Waikanae railway station.
People rushed to help a truck driver after their vehicle was hit by the train, Waikanae commuter Monika Baker told RNZ.
Baker said she was arriving early for her train when she saw the truck stopped on the tracks as she walked to the station.
"It was one of those huge flat bed trucks that had a huge digger truck on the back... as I was going on up onto the train station, I saw that very same truck was trying to turn left crossing the tracks and for some reason it had stopped with the drivers cabin just on the track.
"I thought 'well I hope it's going to move because there's a train coming in soon'."
A train collided with a flatbed truck carrying a digger on a crossing in Waikanae on the Kāpiti Coast. Photo: Supplied / Stuart Bollam
She said she heard the bells and knew the freight train was arriving.
"There were quite a few concerned people already looking towards that truck and we thought surely it's going to move or the train is going to stop.
"And it didn't and the train just went right into that truck cabin."
She said the engine and lights of the truck were damaged in what she described as a "huge crash".
"People started running towards the truck and wanted to make sure the driver got out safely."
Emergency services arrived shortly after, Baker said.
Metlink said buses had replaced train services between Waikanae and Paraparaumu stations, but the Kāpiti line was open from Paekakariki.
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