Rumours a suspicious substance was to blame for three ill commuters on a city-bound South Morang train on Monday morning have been quelled.
A Metro spokeswoman said one of the ill commuters had not been on the train and had reported ill while at Merri station.
The other two passengers were on the same carriage but suffered from different illnesses.
Initial reports said that three train passengers had fallen ill in a carriage travelling on a South Morang train service about 8.20am.
The Metro spokeswoman said that when the first passenger was reported as being ill, the train was instructed to run express from Merri station to Clifton Hill station, where they could be assessed by a first-aid qualified staff member.
At the same time another commuter reported ill while waiting at Merri station, and another customer aboard the train travelling express to Clifton Hill also reported sick.
“As a safety precaution, we pulled the train out of service at Clifton Hill and ran it as empty cars to Epping, and had the MFB attend to carry out a thorough check of the train,” the spokeswoman said.
MFB spokeswoman Meg Rainer said crews were called to Epping station at 9.30am to assess “an incident involving a number of people on a train affected by an unknown substance.”
Specialist hazmat firefighters entered the train in full body suits and armed with detection equipment.
Twenty-six crew members spent two hours and forty minutes inspecting the train before declaring it safe.
Ms Rainer said no suspicious substances were found.
A Metro spokeswoman said while it was uncommon, “it is not impossible for two of our customers to fall ill on the same service, and has in fact occurred on rare occasion in the past.”
