"Scrap level crossings" call as teenager dies

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) A teenager was killed and two seriously injured when a train collided with their car on a level crossing in northern Scotland today, emergency services said.

The incident prompted Britain's biggest rail union to call for an end to level crossings, which it called a ''19th Century solution'' to road/rail interchanges.

One of those hurt in today's crash was flown by air ambulance to hospital in Inverness with serious multiple injuries, a Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said.

A third person with leg injuries was taken to hospital by road.

All three were teenage boys.

''We are not aware of any injuries on the train, although the driver is shaken up badly,'' the ambulance spokesman said. The train was not derailed.

The accident happened near the village of Barbaraville, close to the port of Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands.

Police said there were 13 passengers on the 7:14 am service from Inverness to Wick, on the northern tip of Scotland.

There were no early indications of the cause of the crash.

The RMT union called for every level crossing that meets a public road to be replaced by a bridge or underpass to prevent more accidents.

''Level crossings are a 19th Century solution,'' said General Secretary Bob Crow. ''In the 21st century it is high time for a commitment to separate rail and road traffic.'' It would cost an estimated average of one million pounds per crossing, he added.

REUTERS AB PM1754