A train has crashed into a truck stuck on rail tracks near Turin in Italy leaving at least two dead and 18 injured.

Rescuers were working through the night to look for passengers trapped under the wreckage of the train, which smashed into the big-rig lorry near the town of Caluso at 11.20 pm.

The RfI regional railroad said the railway barrier had lowered properly before the train's approach but for reasons unknown the lorry smashed through the barrier and ended up on the tracks.

The crash, which occurred about 50 minutes into the journey out of Turin, derailed three train cars.

The Italian news agency ANSA said the first fatality was the engineer of the train. Later, one of two critically injured people who were flown by helicopter to a hospital died. 

One of the less seriously injured was reported to be a crew member, while the others were passengers. Ambulance dispatches said a total of 18 people were injured, most of them not critically.