Seeing over eleven near-misses in the last three years, Bentleigh station is ranked fifth in Victoria for such incidents, according to anti-suicide organisation TrackSafe.
With the last incident just a week and a half ago, local residents are asking why these deaths and near-misses keep happening.
‘It is a pretty shocking thing to see,’ says Bentleigh resident Alex Brockenshire who has seen more than two incidents at the busy level crossing.
‘A while ago I saw a sign at Bentleigh claiming Metro spent over one million dollars here, but I can’t see much improvement,’ he said.
‘It’s just not that safe, I think Metro and the local council need to discuss an underpass.’
A Mr Xuajun, who works at the station selling newspapers also saw the March 15 incident.
‘When I opened the door that morning I heard a noise that lasted a long time, and then the police came,’ he said.
‘A lot of people were stuck and confused, and asked me what was happening. The crowd was very curious.’
‘I have only been working here a month and this has happened.’
Mr Xuajun said a few customers had complained to him about the safety of the infrastructure.
Such complaints are not new to Victoria, with the 2012 Transport Safety Victoria statistics report noting ten fatalities in 2012 with collisions the most common form of death.
Due to company policy the Metro cashier at Bentleigh was unable to comment.
Lachlan Kent, a barista at Bent Espresso cafe close to the station spoke of the community’s reaction.
‘People came in while waiting, rumours were flying around but nobody knew what happened,’ he said.
While many were angry or concerned, ‘many just said “oh, it’s happened again.”’
Indeed, he said so many people were stranded in Bentleigh ‘it actually helped our business!’
But Mr Brockenshire, who waited forty-five minutes for alternate transport to his North Melbourne workplace, spoke of the crowd’s unease.
‘I heard it took Metro over two hours to get the tracks cleared, I was thirty minutes late to work,’ he said.
When asked of his alternate route, he said ‘I had to take a bus all the way to Clayton and wait for an overcrowded city-bound train.’
Mr Xuajun also said the crowd were stuck for a lengthy period, despite Metro announcements that alternate transport had been arranged.
The Public Transport Users Association was unable to be reached in time to comment.
Click here for timeline view of the deaths.
For help or information visit beyondblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on 131 114.
