Vision taken from the driver’s cab of a V/Line train in Australia show a person jumping for his life just before a high-speed train destroys his bike on the Ballarat line near Melbourne.

A trail bike rider has come within inches of being killed by a high-speed train in the Australian state of Victoria.

Video of last month's incident, recorded from the driver's cabin and released today, shows the rider walking his bike along tracks in Ballan as the train approaches at 160 kilometres an hour.

V/Line driver Colin Sharp sounded his horn and applied the emergency brake, offering the rider a precious few milliseconds to leap out of the way before the train crushed his motorcycle.

V/LINE/SUPPLIED A motorcyclist leaps over a fence as a train speeds past at 160kmh, crushing the man's bike.

V/Line chief executive James Pinder said there were more than 300 near-hits on the company's network in the past year.

"Trains approaching at high speed are quieter than expected – and it can take nearly a kilometre for a train to stop once the driver applies the brakes.

"When people are reported on the tracks, V/Line often stops trains running in both directions, which can cause lengthy delays for our customers," Pinder said.

In New Zealand, 224 people died while trespassing on the rail corridor between 1993 and April 2015, according to figures by the rail safety group TrackSafe.

It said people should stay at least 2m away from the tracks as fast trains could create a vacuum that can suck a person under the train.