A 15-year-old girl has been found dead on the railway line between Dorchester and Weymouth, police have said.

Emergency services rushed to the scene at 2.25am on Thursday to reports of a casualty on the tracks.

British Transport Police confirmed the teenage girl was pronounced dead at the scene after sustaining injuries caused by electrocution.

Officers are looking to speak to anyone who was in the area of Greenway Road in Weymouth between 1am and 2.30am.

A British Transport Police spokesperson said: “Officers were called to the railway line in Weymouth at 2.25am on 23 March following reports of a casualty on the tracks.

"Paramedics also attended, and sadly a girl was pronounced dead at the scene after sustaining injuries caused by electrocution.

"Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances behind her death. 

"Detectives are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area as they may have information which could assist their enquiries.

"Those with information can contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 42 of 23 March.

"The death is currently being treated as unexplained so the line will remain closed while enquiries continue."

The Weymouth to Waterloo line has a third rail which carries 750 volts and is used to power electric trains.

This makes the lines extremely dangerous to members of the public.

Services between Weymouth and Dorchester South were suspended earlier in the day while police investigated the death. 

On Great Western Railway, service buses ran instead of trains, whilst South Western Railway did not run any services between Weymouth and Dorchester.

A statement from South Western Railway wrote: "At this time, we estimate that disruption to our services will end at 12:00. For onward travel advice please speak to a member of staff or use a station help point. We will let you know if this changes or when we have more information."

Tickets for South Western Railway services were accepted at no extra cost on various services including First Wessex buses

A statement from Great Western Railway wrote: "Owing to an incident overnight the line between Dorchester West and Weymouth will be closed for the next few hours.

"We have sought to obtain some road transport which will operate from Weymouth in place of the amended train services to Dorchester West and will connect with the 06:42 Weymouth to Bristol Parkway service, which is starting from Dorchester West.

"Please accept our apologies for any delay that you encounter to your journey as a result of this incident.

"South Western Railway are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys."

At 9am Great Western Railway announced that the line had been reopened and train services running between the two stations had returned to normal.

At 11.30 am South Western Railway announced that their services were once again running as usual.