THE driver of a truck involved in Saturday's horrific collision with a train in Dandenong appears to have smashed straight through level crossing boom gates, the state's top transport safety official says.

The 69-year-old truck driver from Narre Warren North, whom police have not named, went through the crossing in Abbotts Road about noon on Saturday. He walked away unhurt, but the crash left a 43-year-old Cranbourne man on board the train dead - the first death of a passenger on Melbourne's electrified rail system in decades.

The train driver, Trevor King, survived the collision, but remains in The Alfred hospital, having sustained extensive injuries, including several broken ribs. Mr King, 30, also received serious head injuries that have led doctors to place him in an induced coma.

Mr King's wife is also a driver for Metro but is on maternity leave, and his brother is a Metro driver as well.