Police at the scene said the 31-year-old male driver had turned left onto East Terrace from the Old Princes Highway at about 1.55pm and had allegedly accelerated despite the warning of red flashing lights at the intersection.

Police and emergency crews were called to the scene and the driver was rushed to Adelaide in a serious but non-life threatening condition.

Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) spokesman Brian Dale said the accident, which caused an overnight delay on the Melbourne to Adelaide line, highlighted the dangers of railway crossings. “We send out messages all the time to not try and beat the train,” he said.

“It is traumatising for the train drivers and for this driver it was the second time this type of thing has happened.

“Any (train) driver has a 1.4 chance in 100 that someone will jump in front of their train trying to commit suicide or drive in front of them.

“The worst thing is they can usually see what is about to happen but it takes too long to stop a train and they can’t swerve.”

Mr Dale said the driver of the car in Thursday’s accident was lucky not to have been killed.

“This driver was extremely lucky as the train was an empty grain train,” he said.

“A couple of hours earlier a bigger interstate freight train came through which was full and it would not have been able to stop as soon.”