Two hit and killed by 80mph train

Train services have now resumed at Harlow Mill station, operators said

A man and a woman killed when they were struck by an 80mph train may have been a couple who were arguing moments before they were hit, police said.

The incident happened at about 0800 BST at Harlow Mill, Essex, on the King's Lynn to London Liverpool Street line.

Det Ch Insp David Shipperlee, of British Transport Police, said a witness suggested the man was trying to pull the woman off the tracks.

National Express East Anglia said services have resumed but with delays.

The driver of the 0618 BST train from King's Lynn, with about 300 passengers on board, told police he sounded his horn and applied the emergency brakes but was unable to avoid striking them.

"The driver actually is very traumatised, he's very shocked. He's not working as a result, he's not well enough either for us to take a detailed statement from him at the moment," Det Ch Insp Shipperlee said.

'Boyfriend and girlfriend'

British Transport Police said the man and the woman were declared dead at the scene and the deaths were being treated as unexplained.

"There is a suggestion from a witness, who oversaw the scene, that they heard raised voices just before the time of this incident," Det Ch Insp Shipperlee said.

"There is a suggestion perhaps that the male of the two victims may have been trying to pull the female victim from the tracks but it is too early to say at this stage.

"It would appear from CCTV evidence that the couple were on the tracks and they were both pulling at each other.

"They were standing in the southbound lane and they were seen on the CCTV to be tussling. It may be the male was trying to pull the female away, as was suggested by one witness.

"We think they are boyfriend and girlfriend."

Formal identification of the two bodies is yet to take place, but the dead woman's family had visited the scene, police confirmed.