Train hit and injures man taking shortcut

A man has suffered head and chest injuries after being knocked down by a train as he took a shortcut along railway tracks in Sydney's west.

Police say that just after 9pm on Friday the man and a woman decided to walk along a railway corridor from Blacktown to Seven Hills station.

The woman noticed train lights coming from behind and jumped off the tracks but the man was hit in the arm by the front of the train as he tried to jump clear.

He was thrown onto adjacent tracks, hitting his head and chest on a rail.

The train stopped and emergency services were called.

The man was taken to Westmead Hospital with non life-threatening head and chest injuries.