A woman who died when her car was hit by a freight train on an uncontrolled crossing near Levin had spearheaded an upgrade to make the crossing safer.

Rosalyn Sylvia Yong, 69, known as Sylvia, and her dog Jock died about 7pm on Sunday on the crossing near the intersection of Jacksons and Koputaroa roads, north of Levin, when a northbound train collided with her car, shunting the Toyota about 600 metres along the tracks.

Mrs Yong's shocked neighbours, Jessie and Jim Sarney, said Mrs Yong, a widow, lobbied hard to get the crossing sealed about five years ago.

"The crossing had packed up. You went from pothole to pothole, it was really rough," Mr Sarney said. "She contacted the local MP and railways. After a lot of agitation she managed to get it sealed, including the installation of new railway sleepers.

"She was a great worker for the crossing. A lot of work was done, including improving visibility by getting nearby shrubs trimmed," he said.

Mrs Yong regularly had dinner with the Sarneys, the last time being on Friday night.

Her death was "a hell of a shock", they said.

"I cannot understand it," Mrs Sarney said. "She was the most careful driver. She would never go across without looking to see what was coming. My feeling is it was the sun – it is really bad at that time of night."

She believed Mrs Yong had been going to take her beloved dog for a walk.

Mr Sarney said he heard the train toot that night, as they did when they came through the crossing. "[Then] there was dead silence. It was like it had disappeared off the face of the earth."

Mrs Sarney said Mrs Yong was kind, an extremely hard worker, a lovely mother and an animal lover. She worked part-time as a market gardener and worked hard on her Twin Peaks Grove property the rest of the time.

"She worked eight hours a day and was always aware of the community's needs," Mr Sarney said.

A KiwiRail spokeswoman, Jenni Austin, said Mrs Yong's death was a tragic incident and very upsetting for all involved.

The train driver had been stood down for at least three days and offered counselling.

The crossing is protected by compulsory stop signs, meaning motorists needed to come to a complete stop and check both ways for trains before proceeding.

It was the first recorded collision at the crossing. Records showed Jacksons Rd was opened in 1918.

The police Serious Crash Investigation Unit was at the scene yesterday to try to establish the cause of the crash.