Mark Murray, 41, died when he fell and slipped under the vehicle's wheels on July 12 last year on the railway line near Rugby Golf Club, just south of the town's rail station, as he and a colleague were reaching the end of a 12-hour night shift.

Tuesday's inquest, held in Leamington Spa, heard that Mr. Murray, from Stockport, had been working in Rugby as part of the major engineering upgrades to the West Coast Mainline.

Mr. Murray, who had a nine-month-old son called Billy, had been responsible for the safety of the crane and other workers on the site.

He was walking alongside and directing the vehicle as it was being
driven by a colleague, Patrick Godkin.

Mr. Godkin said: "It was uneventful until I lost sight of Mark.
"I felt a bump and stopped straightaway. I just wish it had never happened."

Mr. Murray was found unconscious and colleagues failed to revive him.
A post-mortem found no evidence of drugs or alcohol in Mr Murray's body and ruled out the possibility of a fit or seizure.

After the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, coroner Sean McGovern said: "It's right that the spotlight is placed upon cases like this. It helps provide a safety net for all of us."

Speaking after the inquest Mr. Murray's brother, John, said: "I miss him a lot. It's ripped the family apart.

"He'd had an amazing life - you could make a film about it.

"He'd been everywhere and done everything, from working in a chippy to helping build the Olympic stadium in Sydney.

"He came back to work on the railways, where I joined him for a while.
"Those are cherished memories now."