A person has died after they were hit by a train at Purley railway station .

British Transport Police (BTP) said the person was fatally struck shortly after midday.

Purley is served by Southern Rail and is between East Croydon and Redhill railway stations.

The station was completely evacuated following the incident.

A spokesman for BTP said: “A person has sadly died after they were struck by a train at Purley [railway] station in south London.

"Police were alerted shortly before 12.10pm this afternoon [Tuesday].

“Officers are now working to identify the person and inform their family.

"This incident is not currently being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”

Said Network Rail shortly after the incident: "Due to a person being hit by a train between East Croydon and Redhill, some lines are blocked.

Emergency services at Purley station

"The train involved was the 11.39am Southern Rail London Victoria service to Tonbridge.

"We are in the process of closing Purley station to passengers. We are expecting some quite serious disruption as a result.

"Emergency services are on their way. We have kept two lines open, but the other four are blocked."

'Never seen anything like this'

There was understandable shock and distress among those at the scene at the time of the incident.

Derek King, 71, said: "I didn't notice anything until the police and ambulance cars turned up and I saw people crowding outside the station almost on the dot at 12 o'clock.

"I've only known something like this to happen once before in the 26 years I've been here."

An employee at Nostro Cafe Costa also spoke of how passengers were quickly evacuated.

"There were six emergency vehicles, two police and four ambulances, that turned up and about 30 to 40 people left the scene," he said.

"They were quite good at getting the people out. I've been here every day for 18 months and never seen anything like this."

Both Network Rail and Southern Rail reported delays and disruption of around 90 minutes in the area, with ticket acceptance on other bus and rail services in the area.

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