A 19-year-old has been hit by a train while posing for modelling photos.

A Texas teenager was killed when she was struck by a train while having photos taken on the tracks in a bid to launch a modelling career, her mother says.

Hakamie Stevenson told The Eagle newspaper her daughter, Fredzania Thompson, 19, attended college but wanted to put her education on hold to begin modelling.

Authorities say Thompson was standing between two sets of tracks in Navasota on Friday when a BNSF Railway train approached.

She moved out of the way of the train but was apparently unaware a Union Pacific train was coming in the opposite direction on the other tracks.

The person who was taking photos of Thompson was not hurt.