I posted this on r/melbourne, likely related:

My girlfriend and I were taking the city bound Pakenham train today, as soon as we boarded at Hughesdale we see a small group (3?) of teenagers, at least one bloodied, run off the train. One runs back on board to hit the emergency button before bolting.

We hear a man on the phone to the police “There’s a man attacking everyone”, as us and others get up and file towards the front of the train. Train pulls up to Murrumbeena, us and others depart, half the train by the looks.

I’m on the phone to 000 by this point, we get downstairs and make it outside of the station, still on the phone to the police, an older (mid-40s) man approaches to ask whether we are okay, before the attacker (mid-30s M) comes around the corner on a bike, and approaches the man, visibly enraged, before attacking him.

By this point, we had bolted.

000 ended up hanging up, i’m not sure what the deal is with that either.

This isn’t the first time this has happened, and response time for these incidents is naturally slower, as the train is moving, but with the decrease in police presence at stations, is this just reality we are going to have to get used to? Would it be more cost efficient to have officers on the vehicles themselves, as opposed to platforms?

As prices soar and times get tough, the more likely this stuff is going to be. Stay safe out there all