A CORONER is calling for improvements to be made to a railway wall after a young man died on the tracks at Atherton.

An inquest heard how Adam Connelly, 22, probably climbed over the 5ft wall beside a bridge between Engine Lane and Peel Lane before being hit by a train.

Assistant coroner Rachel Griffin heard how Bolton-born Mr Connelly grew up in Tyldesley with ambitions to join the army, but he contracted meningitis at 19 and missed his final medical examination.

Instead Mr Connelly, of Park Street, who had studied joinery at college, was employed doing agency work.

His parents, Darren and Joanne Edwards described how he was a popular and happy young man but began taking cannabis and got into debt with people who were threatening him.

The weekend before his death on March 10, he stayed in his bedroom. On the Monday morning he walked out of his job.

Mrs Edwards said he told her, "The only place I am going to feel safe is in a box."

Close friend Adam Rees told the Bolton inquest how Mr Connelly begun taking cocaine at weekends a few months before his death and had once showed him a spot on the railway track where he claimed to have previously tried to end his life.

Mr Connelly's body was spotted by the driver of a train on the Manchester to Wigan line at 7.16am on March 10.

He had suffered multiple fatal injuries,

PC David Cawley said that, although fencing and a bridge were secure, he could easily climb over a wall beside the bridge steps.

Ms Griffin said as cocaine was found in his system and could have affected his behaviour she could not conclude he committed suicide.

Recording a narrative conclusion she said: "Adam Lee Connelly was found dead on a railway track with injuries consistent with being struck by a train. The circumstances about how these injuries came about are unclear."

She will be sending her report to the Chief Executive at Network Rail calling for improvements to be made to the trackside wall.

After the inquest his father, Darren Edwards welcomed the move saying: "If it prevents someone else dying it would be a good thing."