An East Lothian motorcyclist has said that he witnessed the driver of the HGV that crashed onto the tracks at Wallyford escape by “kicking through the windshield.”
James Murden, 37, from Prestonpans, was travelling towards Wallyford when he heard a loud crash and saw a cloud of dust in the air.
He says that he was approaching the roundabout from Prestonpans and immediately pulled over at the Suzuki garage to call 999 at around 1:30pm.
READ MORE: East Lothian line remains closed as Network Rail remove HGV from track
James believes that he saw what “looked like the front end of the truck in the air” and rushed to the scene after he had alerted the emergency services.
He added that several people had run over to the wall where the HGV had crashed through and onto the rails on the afternoon of Thursday June 23.
He also claims to have seen the driver kick his way through the windscreen in order to escape the crumbled wreckage of his cabin that was strewn across the track.
The Shell Dreghorn site manager explained the ordeal, he said: “I was approaching the roundabout from Prestonpans, heading for Wallyford.
“I heard a huge bang and saw a cloud of smoke in the direction of Musselburgh.
“It looked like the front end of the truck was in the air but this was just from a glance as I was still driving.
“I pulled up in front of the Suzuki garage and called 999. After eight years working in a petrol station, it is wired into us to respond quickly.
“A few minutes later I ran over to the fence to see if the driver was ok, and saw him kick his way through the windscreen and crawl out.
“There was a crowd of people by the hole in the wall, and a couple of guys climbed down to help him get up.
“I'm just glad he's ok and no-one else was hurt.”
Network Rail revealed that the East Coast Mainline from Edinburgh to Berwick-Upon-Tweed would remain closed as they scrambled to remove the lorry and repair the damage caused by the terrifying incident.
They advised morning commuters to stay up to date with developments as they unfolded, especially if they were travelling in the early morning.
They took to Twitter at around 7:40pm to announce that: “The crane is now in position and ready to begin lifting the HGV from the line. Before that happens, we’re moving overhead lines to create room for the lift to take place. Once complete, we then need to move them back into position.
“With the HGV clear of the line (hopefully by midnight), we’ll start repairing our damaged overhead line equipment. What we’ve not been able to do so far is inspect the damage to the track and signalling system (a telecoms cabinet was located where the vehicle landed).
“This means that unfortunately, we don’t expect the East Coast Mainline between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed to reopen first thing tomorrow. We understand this is frustrating and we’ll work through the night to avoid this if we can.
“We’ll be updating our train operators throughout the night as recovery work goes on. If you're travelling tomorrow, please check your journey, particularly if you're travelling first thing.”
In images shared by Edinburgh Live, the cabin of the HGV can be seen lying over a section of the rail tracks.
Another picture appears to show the moment described by James where the driver was helped up the embankment.
Further images shared by Network Rail showed a large yellow crane trying to clear the track.
They released a statement following the incident where a spokesperson said: "We are working closely with the emergency services following an incident involving a heavy goods vehicle coming through the railway boundary and on to the track near to Wallyford roundabout in Musselburgh.
“Specialist engineers are on-site to recover the vehicle and assess the railway infrastructure for damage.
“All services on the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed have been suspended for the rest of the day.”
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