The victim, believed to be a member of staff, was hit by the 9.09am train from Waterloo to Guildford as it was leaving the platform at 10am.

Paramedics were still at the scene working on the employee, who was believed to have suffered head, arm and leg injuries,an hour and a half after the accident, before he was rushed to hospital by a helicopter at about 11.40am.

Robert Gillett, from Worcester Park, was on the train travelling to Guildford when the accident happened.

He said: "I was on the train going out of the station when it hit the man. It had only gone 50 yards out of the station and hit one of the workers on the track.

"I was on the train for an hour and a half and we did not know what was going on. All we were told was that there had been a serious incident on the train."

Elizabeth McKenzie was on her way to the shops in Guildford. She said: "The train just stopped at about 10am. I was just reading my paper when it happened. We weren't told anything and we didn't know anything until the guard came through when we were told that the train had hit a man."

A police inspector at the scene said: "Someone working on the tracks was hit by a train. He has been airlifted to hospital.

"The British Transport Police will be carrying out an investigation into what happened but the guy is in a very poorly condition."

The incident caused delays to commuters,and residents in the town were left wondering about the amount of police cars and sirens rushing through the streets.Water was being handed out to the passengers who were stuck on the train and rail operators were trying to organise buses to replace trains.

All trains were cancelled until 12.30pm to allow for an investigation to be carried out.

Resident Wendy Hill said: "There were sirens going like crazy and police helicopters hovering over the business park I work in. I couldn't get out of the office to find out what was going on."

See also:

Rail worker hit by train is left severely injured

Surrey Advertiser: 31/8/2007

Emergency services at the scene of the incident at Leatherhead Station this week in which a railway worker was struck by a train

Emergency services at the scene of the incident at Leatherhead Station this week in which a railway worker was struck by a train

A RAILWAY worker is recovering from serious injuries in hospital after he was hit by a train at Leatherhead Station on Wednesday morning.

The man, a Network Rail employee believed to be in his mid-twenties, suffered serious head injuries and was left with all his ribs and both his legs broken after he was struck by the train at around 10am.

The driver of the 9.09am service from London Waterloo to Guildford via Epsom, raised the alarm after he feared he had hit someone on the tracks as he was pulling away from the station.

The British Transport Police (BTP) and two ambulances were sent to the scene immediately and paramedics began treating the man who was stuck between two trains.

A spokeswoman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: “The man was given intensive treatment by paramedics at the scene but they had a difficult job because he was lying between two trains.

“He had severe head and chest injuries and fractured limbs.”

The man, who is from Walworth in south London, was eventually lifted to the Royal London Hospital at about 11.40am.

Commuters, who had been pulled off the train, were left stranded at the station as rail services were cancelled for more than four hours while officers from the British Transport Police investigated the scene.

Southern and South West Trains, which operate the affected train services from the station, laid on buses for the stranded passengers but these did not arrive until more than two hours later.

Railway staff also gave out bottles of water to those who were waiting to be rescued.

One commuter, who did not wish to be named, said he heard ambulance sirens from the nearby gym at just after 10am but did not realise what had happened until he went to the station to catch a train home.

He said: “I heard all the commotion but it wasn’t until I came round here and saw all the people waiting outside that I realised the seriousness of it all.

“No one I’ve spoken to seems to have seen what actually happened but apparently the guy was somehow stuck on the track and was hit.”

It is not yet known how the man came to be on the track as the train was leaving the station but National Rail confirmed the man had been carrying out work on a section of the line at Leatherhead.

As the Surrey Advertiser went to press on Thursday, the British Transport Police confirmed that the incident was being treated as a work-related accident and a rail accident investigation team was leading an investigation.

It was also confirmed that the man was still recovering at Royal London Hospital and was in a stable condition.

See also:

Rail man crushed by trains

Sunday Mirror: 02/09/2007

A railway worker was being treated for serious injuries yesterday after being crushed between two trains.

The man, in his 30s, suffered head, chest, back and leg injuries after being hit by a train which dragged him along the tracks before hitting another train.

Rescuers spent an hour freeing the man at Leatherhead station in Surrey. He was then flown by air ambulance to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, East London.

A British Transport Police spokesman said his condition remained stable last night.

"He has two broken legs and he is being kept in for a scan," he added. "Doctors are concerned about any possible spinal injuries."