Police at Paraparaumu station after the man was killed by a freight train.

A man has been struck and killed by a freight train on the Kapiti Coast.

Police said the wheelchair-bound man was hit at Paraparaumu station shortly before 11.30am.

"Early indications are he's fallen off the platform," Inspector Mike Coleman said.

It was believed he was killed instantly.

Police investigators and the serious crash unit were working at the scene.

"At this stage we haven't confirmed his identification," Senior Sergeant Jan Craig said.

The station had been quiet at the time of the accident, she said. One witness had been found, who was being interviewed, as was the driver.

Both had been offered support at the scene.

The owner of Rail House Coffee, Anne Beach said she was not at the station-based kiosk at the time of the incident, which left the staff member in charge "traumatised".



Beach would not comment and referred inquiries to Tranz Metro.

Greater Wellington Regional Council spokesman Rick Marshall said there were security cameras operating at the station.

"GWRC will work with the authorities investigating this incident.This will include supplying any relevant security camera coverage of the incident."

Kiwirail owns the platform at the station, he said, while Greater Wellington owns the buildings.

TranzMetro has advised passengers via its Twitter feed that all services on the Kapiti Line had returned to schedule by 2.30pm.

An earlier update advised buses were replaced trains between Paekakariki and Waikanae due to an "operational incident".

Kiwirail has confirmed the train involved in the incident was a northbound freight train headed for Auckland.

The freight train driver had been relieved from duty and given support.

Paraparaumu man Mike O'Rorke, who broke his back and lost both legs in a rail accident, said the platform at Paraparaumu was "no worse" than anywhere else for people in wheelchairs.

The mix of wheelchairs, walkers and trains "seemed dangerous in some respects" he said, but there was still space for safe movement on the platform.

"Paraparaumu is not worse than anywhere else, they're all playing on the same field."

But an accessibility group has disagreed, saying only a few people in wheelchairs used rail in Kapiti because of accessibility problems.

Kapiti accessibility advisory group co-chair Jim Webber said the old Ganz Mavag trains were difficult for people in wheelchairs.

"Quite a few people in wheelchairs don't use the trains because you don't know if there's an accessible train coming back or not."

He said only the new Matangi trains on the Tranz Metro offered good accessibility.

"The other ones you have to be pushed up a steep ramp, which does not come into the accessible kind of terminology."

Fellow co-chair Sue Emirali said the station appeared to be designed well, with tactile pavers running the length of the platform near the edge.

"But a lot of people go close to the edge to look down to Waikanae to see if the train's coming."

A 23-year-old Auckland woman was hit by a train when her wheelchair got stuck in the tracks at Morningside Station's level crossing.

Bystanders struggled to free the woman, who had cerebral palsy, as the barrier arms came down and bells began sounding the approach of the freight train.

She survived but lost a foot in the February 2013 crash.

A woman in a wheelchair and her partially blind husband were left dangling on a train's wheelchair hoist as it began moving to pull out of Waikanae Station in June 2013.

A train attendant pressed an emergency button and the ramp only travelled about 1.7 metres before the train was stopped. No one was injured.

Did you witness this incident? Email news@dompost.co.nz or call 0800 366 7678.