A police incident at Southern Cross has caused evening peak-hour chaos, with major delays across the Metro Trains network.
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Police were called to the station about 2.30pm after a trespasser positioned himself on a metal platform attached to a bridge.
They successfully coaxed him down just before 4.30pm.
The incident caused major delays on eight lines as police negotiated with the man.
Metro Trains said the incident prompted major delays in the CBD area for Craigieburn, Cranbourne, Frankston, Pakenham, Sunbury, Upfield, Werribee and Williamstown lines.
Spokeswoman Sammie Black said at 7pm there were still residual delays of six minutes across the network.
There were major delays on the Werribee line, with one train service cancelled. It's not clear if it was related to the earlier incident.
A Metro spokeswoman said some trains were running direct to Flinders Street Station because of the incident, that started at 2.30pm.
The delays have prompted confusion at railway stations.
One commuter told The Age: "I'm at North Melbourne station. Nothing has moved for 15 minutes. No one knows what's happening. All signals are on red".
Hoppers Crossing resident Andrea Gill said she had been waiting at Southern Cross Station since 3pm to get home.
"I finished work at 3pm and I was thinking it will be an early finish on Friday," Ms Gill said.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said they received the call for assistance at 3.15pm.
Due to @metrotrains disruptions, some services may be delayed this afternoon due to heavier than expected traffic.— Yarra Trams (@yarratrams) June 24, 2016
The delays look set to flow on to other modes of transport.
Yarra Trams has warned commuters that some services may be delayed due to heavier than expected traffic.
V/Line said its services had not been impacted by the incident.
In other delays on the roads, a uncovered manhole forced two left outbound lanes on the Westgate Freeway prior to the Bolte Bridge caused inbound traffic on the Monash Freeway to be backed up to Bourke Road.
VicRoads spokesman Adrian Pena said they got the call at 2.20pm about a manhole cover being dislodged.
He said the lanes were open just before 5pm, but there were residual delays.
Victoria Police Amelia Penhall said no charges would be laid over the Southern Cross incident.
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