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Two women killed in Melbourne car, train smash

Two women are dead after their car was hit by an express train at a Melbourne level crossing.

The women in their 70s were killed when their black Hyundai was crushed by a train and pushed 100m into a station platform shortly before 4pm on Wednesday at the Union Road level crossing in Surrey Hills.

The car was heading north on Union Road when it collided with an express train from the Melbourne CBD with 200 people on board.

The train was set to go through the Surrey Hills station and was travelling at speed moments before the impact which split the car into two.

One half of the car ended up lodged underneath the train while the other half was wedged between the train and the platform.

Safety experts have arrived at the scene. Source: 7News

The scene in Surrey Hills. Source: 7News

Firefighters used heavy machinery to extract the women from the car, and the vehicle from under the train.

Cafe worker Ben Jackson saw the sickening collision, which he described as a "slow motion horror film".

"[The car] was definitely inside the boom gates on the wrong side of the tracks," Mr Jackson said. "It was lifted up like a feather."

Early reports suggest the driver may have been trying to navigate around the boom gates at the level crossing as witnesses watched on in horror.

"I looked up at the boom gates and I noticed that the car was slowly going through the crossing when the boom gates were down," one witness said.

"The car was lifted in the air by a train and carried forward. It was full on."


Cafe worker Ben Jackson saw the crash. Picture: 7 News

Police closed off the level crossing and access to the station for several hours in the aftermath.

The Belgrave and Lilydale lines remained suspended with buses are replacing trains between Camberwell and Box Hill on Wednesday night.