Rail bosses have been told to improve their safety procedures after a workman was forced to dive clear of an oncoming train with just seconds to spare.

The welder was carrying out urgent repairs to a track at Tinsley Green Junction, near Crawley, at 9.30am on March 17 when he came within inches of losing his life.

He managed to jump clear of the Brighton to Watford train just in time, when it was just 50 to 80 metres away, but his welding equipment, sitting where he had been a few moments before, was hit and crushed.

He went straight back to work despite being left shaken by the incident.

The train had just been re-routed from a fast line to another line ready to arrive at a platform.

It is thought the welder did not hear the warning given by a lookout and his assistant was not close by and so unable to give the usual warning.

An investigation into the narrow escape said it happened because the safety manager on duty on the day was not expecting any trains to be re-routed in this way.

It said the controller of site safety was inexperienced, did not have local knowledge and had not been properly briefed by his superiors.

The system of identifying hazards set up to deal with staff working under these conditions was also found to be unclear and flawed.

A report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), the UK's independent railway investigation organisation, has now recommended new safety regulations be introduced.

The results of the nine-month investigation also criticised safety procedures which did not stipulate staff moving to a safe place when approaching on the fast line.

It said: "The immediate cause of the incident was the system of work implemented at the site did not take into account the possibility of trains switching lines via the crossover on which the team were working.

"Causal factors were the limited experience of the Controller of Site Safety, and the established system of work did not involve staff moving to a position of safety when trains were approaching on the up fast line."

It said new safety training procedures should be introduced as a result of the incident and made eight different recommendations involving the competency of staff in charge of safety, rules and training and the identification, recording and briefing of hazards.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "We welcome the publication of the RAIB report.

"Network Rail has carried out its own formal investigation which reached similar conclusions and the recommendations within the RAIB report are currently being considered."