POLICE officers risked their own lives to rescue a woman walking along a live railway track. A patrol car was sent to Swale railway station, near Sheerness, on Sunday following a 999 call that the woman was walking on the line towards Kingsferry Bridge.

Railtrack were asked to cut the electricity supply to the line but refused to do so on the grounds that it would affect the running of trains from Sheppey to Victoria. Train drivers within the area were warned and asked to approach at low speed.

PC Gary Ferguson and PC Gary Wood were the first to arrive at the scene. Both officers went on to the line to speak to the woman.

The 52 year-old woman, of no fixed address, was eventually coaxed off the line and taken back to The Quays Hostel in Sittingbourne.

A Railtrack spokesperson said: "It's standard practice to caution trains past the site as it is the quickest way for checking if anyone is on the track. There is a process to go through for switching the electricity on and off and it would have taken 10 minutes to switch it back on.

"By then there could have been a backlog of trains. However, had we needed to switch the electricity off, we would have done so."