A man was run over and killed by a train after a party on Thursday night in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district.

Ma Eng Nguon, commune police chief, said Ros Yim, 29, left a party at his sister’s house around 8pm in Teuk La’ak I to return to his car wash in Boeung Kak II commune. Unable to open the shop door, he went back to his sister’s place, but after knocking and screaming he walked away again.

“He walked out to call his friends to continue drinking. But when he was walking about 10 metres, the train arrived . . . and the train just ran over him,” she reportedly said, adding that she suspects that he fell on the tracks.

John Guiry, CEO of Royal Railway, said that as of Saturday his company employed 165 guards at crossings and had installed 13 electronic barriers at crossing points.

As it was impossible to fence off all train tracks, however, he said education about safety on the tracks was key.

“Some people go out at night and get tired and fall asleep on the train tracks,” he said.

“Others use the railway as a walkway.”

He said the company would start a national campaign on television to educate people in about two weeks.