A 14-year-old boy was killed when he was hit by a train while crossing a railway line in Soweto, police said on Thursday.

Captain Nomvula Mbense said the boy was going to the shops when he avoided a tractor that was on the road, and went over the tracks at Kliptown train station on Wednesday.

"He was hit and died instantly."

Police opened a culpable homicide docket.

According to the Daily Sun, which named the victim as Wilson Ntuli, he had pushed his seven-year-old sister Lungile out of the train's path when he was hit. The girl was unhurt.