A young man’s death on railway tracks near Hornsey station will forever remain a mystery, a coroner concluded this afternoon.

Parris McAdam was hit by a train travelling at 90mph as he walked along the line between Hornsey and Alexandra Palace.

North London Coroner’s Court heard this afternoon that the 20-year-old had never before expressed any feelings of depression or intention of harming himself to his family or friends.

In the days before his death he had appeared happy at a family barbecue and a father’s day celebration.

But for reasons that remain a mystery, the lab technician got onto the railway line shortly before 8.20pm on Thursday, June 20, 2013, and began walking down the track.

A witness account from the driver of the train explained how, as the 7.33pm Kings Cross to Leeds service came around a bend after leaving Hornsey station, Mr McAdam was seen walking alone.

The driver said: “He had his back to the train and as soon as I saw him I applied the emergency brakes. He was in the process of turning back towards me (when the train struck him).”

Mr McAdam, of Newland Road, Hornsey, was pronounced dead at the scene and a post mortem found he died of multiple injuries.

Gary Matthias of the British Transport Police explained that by the time a person heard a train travelling at that speed, they would have just seconds to get out of the way.

A family member told the court it was unlikely Mr McAdam was taking a short-cut as it would have been easier to use more conventional routes.

But Coroner Andrew Walker said there was not enough evidence to suggest Mr McAdam had intended to end his life that day.

Recording an open conclusion, he said: “The fact he had his back to the train means he would have had no time to hear or react to it.

“I don’t know why he was on that section of the track that day, there are a number of possibilities, but none more likely than the other.”

Mr McAdam was walking on the railway tracks between Hornsey and Alexandra Palace when he was fatally struck by a train