A man who suffered critical injuries after being hit by a train in Mt Eden, Auckland, this morning was listening to his iPod and crossed despite barrier arms being down.

The man was struck by a passenger train at the barrier crossing at the intersection of Porters Ave and New North Rd about 8.50am.

Senior Sergeant Junior Abraham said two trains were passing at the time - a west-bound freight train and a city-bound passenger train.

"The pedestrian has waited for the freight train to go past and then tried to cross obviously not seeing the passenger train that was passing around about the same time," he said.

Abraham said the man was listening to his iPod and had ignored the barrier arms which were down.

"There's two sets of tracks, so it's like crossing the road, you need to look both ways. But if the barrier is down don't cross."

Abraham said the man was conscious after the accident but quickly lost consciousness and was rushed to Auckland City Hospital.

He was in an induced coma.

A Veolia spokeswoman said trains were stopped at the request of emergency services between Kingsland and Britomart.

Replacement buses were running between Kingsland and Newmarket, where passengers could catch trains to Britomart.

Normal train services resumed at about 10.30am.

This was the second time a train had hit a pedestrian in less than a month and the sixth time since December.

On June 11 a man was killed near St Lukes Rd after walking along railway tracks.

In April Simondrai Robson died after falling under a train at Ranui train station.

The same month a woman broke her ankle after being dragged along the tracks near St Lukes Rd after her bike became entangled with a train.

In February a woman died after being hit by a train while walking along railway tracks near New Lynn and in December a person died after being hit near Middlemore Hospital.

- © Fairfax NZ News