A PONTYPOOL man died after being hit by a train, with a coroner suggesting he could have been on the line trying to startle a friend walking below.

The death of 58-year-old John Townsend was described as "tragic", by coroner David Bowen who said he was "extremely foolhardy" in climbing on to a railway bridge at Little Mill.

Gwent Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Townsend, of Tan-y-Coed was a keen hiker, who walked between 10 and 15 miles every day with friend Andrew Williams.

The pair would take maps and bus timetables to get home, usually ending up in a pub somewhere and on April 13 they finished at the Halfway House pub, Little Mill.

As they left at around 6.50pm to get their bus, the court heard in written evidence from Mr Williams that he answered a call of nature.

When he returned he was "mystified" that Mr Townsend wasn’t there, but said they often got separated while walking, so he caught the bus back to Pontypool alone.

Evidence was then read from Mark Preston, an Arriva Trains Wales driver, who was travelling with the 4.30pm service from Manchester Piccadilly to Milford Haven.

At around 7pm, the train was 200 metres from Little Mill signal box, when the driver saw Mr Townsend sat on a wall next to the line.

He sounded the horn and at first thought he’d missed him, but Mr Preston then saw a body on the line.

British Transport Police liaison officer John Wilson told the hearing that there are steep embankments from the road below up on to the line, with walkers prohibited from climbing up.

A post mortem examination found that Mr Townsend died from injuries consistent with being hit by a train.

Mr Bowen said that while he had suffered from depression, he was not sure Mr Townsend climbed on to the bridge to take his life.

He said: "It is far more likely he climbed on to the wall to see the road below, perhaps to startle his friend and got down when he heard the train, failing to appreciate it was considerably wider than the track.

"If Mr Townsend intended to kill himself, he had plenty of time to stand on the track and it’s significant he didn’t."

A verdict of misadventure was recorded.