Heart-stopping footage shows terrifying train near-misses

Heart-stopping footage has been released of pedestrians and cyclists dicing with death on Adelaide railway lines to save a few seconds.

The South Australian government revealed there’d been a surge in reckless near-misses, leaving train drivers traumatised.

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In one video, taken in the dark, a train came barrelling towards two hooded figures in Edwardstown.

But instead of staying put one darted across on a scooter.

The other, caught in the headlights, stopped. Then hauled himself back, seconds away from impact.

Train driver Ben Hemmerling said the incidents stayed with him and his colleagues.

“Drivers go home and they think about these incidents. I remember having one very early in my career and I still think about that on a weekly basis,” he said on Sunday.

Another clip caught the moment a pedestrian made a run for it across a train line.

As rain lashed down in the dark at Ovingham a cyclist almost risked it all, just to save a few seconds.

Transport Minister Joe Szakacs said it was “frankly mind-blowing behaviour”.

And it’s on the rise. Near-misses across Adelaide metro rail lines are up by 4 per cent this year, with the Gawler line making up 44 per cent of those incidents.

“Some of this ridiculous behaviour we see out on the network has to stop. There is a societal issue around taking risks and trying to save time,” Rail Tram and Bus Union branch organiser Hayden Boyle said.

“Never assume the track is clear. And always assume a train or a tram is on its way. A few seconds is never worth a life.”

A typical passenger train weighs about 140 tonnes and takes nearly half a kilometre to come to a complete stop