One person has died after a freight train slammed into a car at a level crossing at Werribee.

The accident happened at approximately 5.45 this afternoon, as the car reportedly tried to cross the tracks at Cherry Street.

Few details are available but it’s believed the car’s driver died at the scene.

The roads is expected to be closed for several hours while police investigate.

The Cherry Street level crossing is considered one of the most dangerous in the state, and was ranked thirteenth on a list of Victoria’s most deadly crossings in a government study in 2008.

It is bracketed by a Woolworths grocery store, a roundabout on either side and a set of pedestrian lights, meaning today’s accident would likely have been witnessed by dozens of shoppers and commuters.

The crossing is situated on one of Werribee’s busiest roads and is one of only two linkages between the CBD and the western half of the city and burgeoning suburbs such as Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Wyndham Vale, Wyndham Green and Truganina.

But despite its shocking record it was overlooked in favour of more benign crossings in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs when the Baillieu government announced it was beginning work on removing some of our most dangerous rail crossings earlier this year.

Picture: Werribee’s deadly Cherry Street railway crossing, the scene of today’s fatality (Google Street View)