A 12-year-old boy suffered severe burns after being electrocuted at Shipley Railway Station.

The boy, who has not been named, was believed to have been playing with two friends on the railway line when he came into contact with the high voltage cable overhead.

PC Brian Heaton, of British Transport Police, said: "We are still trying to find out what happened. As far as we know, this boy was in contact with overhead lines. Normally a current that strong would kill you straight away but there was a milk carton on the line that cushioned the blow."

The boy was in hospital today where his condition was described as "serious but not life-threatening" and he will need major plastic surgery.

British Transport Police are urging any witnesses to the incident at about 4pm on Saturday to come forward and contact them on (0113) 243 6686.

Meanwhile in a separate incident, a badly-injured man found lying with his head resting on a railway line was plucked to safety today in a dramatic rescue by firefighters.

The delicate operation took the 13-strong team of fire officers an hour. The man, believed to be white and in his 30s, was lying by the track in a deep cutting which was almost inaccessible to the emergency services.

They placed the man on a special stretcher and lifted it 50 feet vertically using a hydraulic platform parked above the track, off Mill Lane.

Police were today investigating how the man, found barely conscious with serious leg, face and head injuries, came to be on the track but they were not treating it as suspicious.

He was today receiving treatment at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

A train driver spotted him at 5.30am today and the line was immediately closed.

Station officer Harvey Stewart, of Bradford fire station, said: "His head was resting on the side of the line. It sounds like trains were going inches from his head."

The rescue operation was an unusual task, he said.

They placed the man on a spine board and then on a special stretcher, which was carefully raised up and out of the deep railway cutting by a hydraulic platform parked above.

"It was a quarter of a mile walk to where the casualty was, over very uneven ground, so we decided to get him out vertically," Station Officer Stewart said.

"The man's face was quite bloodied as he had a nasty injury to his head and he was semi-conscious.

"We attached the line to the eye of the hydraulic platform and hauled the casualty up 40 or 50 foot.

"It was a very rewarding job as it went really well and hopefully he will make a recovery. I'd hope that we have helped save his life."

The track was closed for hours today as police investigators scoured the area, which was designated a crime scene.

Inspector Steve Baker, of Bradford police, said: "The man was severely injured but I am told his condition was stable. He may have fallen from the bridge but we have more inquiries to carry out."

A Network Rail spokesman said: "At 5.36am we had a report of a person lying beside the track. It was the driver of the 5.15am Leeds to Manchester Victoria who saw it, and as a result we stopped all the lines.

"The location is in a deep cutting which made it difficult for emergency services to get to it. At 7.36am we reopened the line to Halifax but the Mill Lane junction to Leeds remains closed because West Yorkshire Police are treating it as a scene of crime."

A spokesman for Arriva Trains Northern added: "Our services can't get through at the moment and we apologise to our customers but it's circumstances beyond our control."

A spokesman for the British Transport Police confirmed they were investigating but was unable to release any details.