Train services were disrupted and hundreds of passengers had to be moved after a truck collided with a Pakenham-bound train at the Dandenong level crossing this afternoon.
No-one was injured but train services ground to a halt as police and Public Transport Victoria staff began investigating the incident.
Signal infrastructure was damaged and a spokesman for Public Transport Victoria said the service was not expected to resume until morning.
Most passengers, including this reporter, had no idea a collision had occurred; they were just perplexed when their ride home came to a stop as it pulled out of Dandenong station.
‘”I didn’t feel anything at all, I wasn’t even sure why we’d stopped,” said Kaitlyn, on her way home from Beaconhills College.
“I didn’t feel it at all. I had music on my earphones and then I realised we stopped. It took a while for them to tell us why,” said one passenger, Margarette. “I was coming from doing my RSA and I’m tired and I really want to go home.”
A Country Fire Authority team was called, and helped trapped passengers disembark via a stepladder and help them across the tracks safely. Metro buses were called in to ferry passengers and will replace trains until the service is restored. – Zena Chamas
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