TRAIN passengers were left terrified when a train almost ran off the rails near Melksham after hitting debris on the track.

The commuters were on board a GWR service on its way from Swindon to Trowbridge, Westbury and Warminster that hit bricks on the line at 7.20pm, damaging the front of the train.

Swindon Advertiser community reporter Elly Roberts was among the number of passengers on board as the train approached Melksham station.

Elly, 27, said: “It just felt like the train was changing tracks at first. Then it started to sway a bit and loud crunching could be heard.

“Passengers originally thought the train had gone over a tree. Some people were worried and said they had to hold on to the arm rests.

“It was all over so fast, in less than five seconds.

“I’m just so grateful nothing worse happened.”

Tracey Hannam, who joined the train at Chippenham, said: “I felt the train steer off the tracks. There was a really loud noise like the train was going to go over.

“A lot of us in our carriage held on to something and put our heads down.

“You just start panicking because you think the worst is going to happen.

“I’ve been travelling this route for six years and nothing like this has ever happened.”

Tracey works for the RSPCA in Chippenham and was travelling home to Trowbridge.

She added: “It was very scary.

"I usually get an earlier train home from work but I stayed late today.

“I immediately phoned my sister who’s a nurse. It could have been so much worse. I’m so glad it wasn’t.”

Business student Callum Aylesbury was travelling back from Nottingham to see his family in Trowbridge. He said: “I just thought we were going to go straight over. When it made all that noise I looked up wondering what was going on.

“It was just confusion in my carriage. No-one had a clue what was going on.

“This was the first time I’ve come home on this route. There were two trains I could have taken, five minutes apart. One via Bristol or this one. I won’t be coming back this way again.”

Elly praised the driver and conductor who, she said, acted “very calmly and very professionally”.

She said the driver had told passengers the bridge had collapsed and caused “substantial damage” to the train.

A spokesman for Network Rail said a vehicle had hit part of the wall on Dunch Lane where a bridge goes over the line, knocking down a pilaster with masonry falling onto the railway line.

The 5.50pm Great Western Railway service from Gloucester to Warminster struck the fallen stones, damaging the front carriage of the train.

The train was driven slowly on to Melksham station, a few hundred metres away, where passengers were taken off the train and found taxis to make their way home.

On Monday evening, Network Rail crews cleared rubble off the track and fenced off the damaged bridge.

Both the track and Dunch Lane were closed during the incident. The line was re-opened on Tuesday.

Police are still trying to trace the driver of the vehicle.

Locals were critical of drivers who travel too fast along Dunch Lane to cross the narrow bridge.

Rebecca Holden, 47, of Northbrook Road, said: “It’s not suitable for two-way traffic because it’s too narrow.”