This is the shocking moment a train crashed into a truck that was trying to beat a level crossing in Cambodia.

Footage shows the lorry speeding towards the junction despite a crossing guard waving a red flag to warn motorists of the approaching oil tanker train in the Sangke district of Battambang on January 17.

The locomotive sounded its horn but slammed into the truck, causing it to derail with dozens of carriages veering off the tracks.

A terrified rail worker standing on the opposite side of the road was seen running away from the collision as the overturned lorry carrying construction materials came hurtling towards him.

Miraculously, two vehicles that were waiting for the train to pass were not struck by the wreckage.'

Police Colonel Ve Leam, who attended the scene, said there were no physical barriers on the rail crossing to prevent drivers from travelling over the lines.

He said: 'The truck driver will be questioned about the accident. The cameras show he sped up when the train was coming and did not stop, even when the guards were waving their flags.

'A lot of damage has been caused to the train and the truck. We are investigating why it happened.'

Officials said the truck driver was injured and taken to hospital but was stable. The train's engineman suffered minor wounds, reports said.

Cambodia's transport ministry has urged locals to follow traffic rules at level crossings after the accident. However, they did not make plans to install a physical railing at the scene.

Cambodia remains one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, with infrastructure and basic health and safety desperately poor and most level crossings having no gates or barriers.

Despite more than three billion dollars in foreign aid from the U.S., the country has struggled to recover from the brutal Communist genocide of the 1970s in which the Khmer Rouge slaughtered a third of the population, targeting educated adults.

However, mass capitalist investment in projects such as rail, housing, casinos, entertainment, shopping malls and airports has started to change the landscape in recent years - ironically from the Communist regime China.