THE MAN who yesterday jumped to his death in front of a high-speed train in Hampshire is believed to be a 61-year-old from Bournemouth.

Train services in Hampshire and Dorset were disrupted for most of yesterday after the man jumped off the platform and in front of the train as it travelled at 90 miles per hour.

He died instantly and police are treating the incident as a suspected suicide.

The only witness to the incident is believed to be the train driver, whose identity is not being revealed. He has been offered counselling to cope with shock.

The passenger train was empty at the time as it was on its way back to a depot, said a spokesman for South West Trains. The drama happened as the 9.01am Brockenhurst to Poole train travelled through the small Hinton Admiral station on the Hampshire and Dorset border.

Police and ambulance services were alerted to the incident at 9.13am and the power to the railway line was turned off while investigations took place.

Buses replaced trains between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth until the line reopened at 12.35pm. But the spokesman for South West Trains said delays to services continued throughout the afternoon, only just getting back to normal in time for the evening rush hour at 4.30pm.

Officials from the police and ambulance services retrieved the body and carried out investigations at the scene.

A spokesman for the British Transport Police said: "A man jumped off the platform in front of the train. Initial investigations show he was probably a 61-year-old man from the Bournemouth area."

Crews from both South Central Ambulance Service and South West Ambulance Service attended, along with officers from the British Transport Police.

Yesterday's incident is the third suspected suicide at the Hinton Admiral station in recent years.

In 2004, a man plunged in front of an 80mph train shortly after 9am and died instantly.

In 2003, a man was hit by a commuter train at the same spot at 7.30am.