Emergency services confirm that a man was killed after he was hit by a train near Harborough

The man, who hasn’t been named, died after he was hit at about 5am at Great Bowden on the edge of Harborough.

British Transport Police, firefighters, ambulances and Network Rail staff dashed to the scene after the driver immediately raised the alarm.

A police helicopter also hovered overhead as rescue teams searched the tracks shrouded in darkness for the man’s body.

As we reported earlier, the tragic incident sparked serious commuter disruption as all trains stopped running through Market Harborough.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: “British Transport Police were called at 5am on 26/02 following a report of a casualty on the tracks on an area of railway in Great Bowden.

“Sadly, a person has been pronounced dead at the scene.

“The incident is not being treated as suspicious and a report will be prepared for the coroner.”

A spokeswoman for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service control told the Harborough Mail: “We received a call from the police at 5.15am today requesting us to attend the incident at Great Bowden.

“An individual had been hit by a train.

“The driver was unsure if he had hit a person or an animal but he knew he had hit something.”

She added: “We assisted in the search at the scene for the person.

“Network Rail staff found the body of a man in the area.

“At that point we came away because there was nothing more we could do.”

She said the service sent “significant resources” to the emergency because a person had been reported hit by a train.

“We despatched our technical rescue team from Leicester’s Southern Station.

“We also sent two appliances and two tactical response vehicles from Market Harborough and Kibworth,” said the control operator.

“So we’d have had 18 personnel at the scene helping out.”

An East Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said they sent “two paramedics in ambulance cars, a crewed ambulance and a doctor” to the scene.

Hundreds of early rush-hour commuters were affected as all trains through Market Harborough were immediately stopped.

Emergency buses were quickly drafted in and laid on to ferry passengers between Leicester, Harborough and Kettering as the drama unfolded.

The busy line linking Harborough to Leicester reopened shortly before 8am, East Midlands Railway said.

And trains started running again from Harborough to Kettering by 10am but with some delays, the rail operator said.