A distraught mother spent a "frightening" four minutes separated from her child when a peak-hour train departed Southern Cross station without her.
The mother and her child made a mad dash to catch the 5:30pm Lilydale train at Southern Cross station on Friday.
With the doors about to close, the woman put the pram on the train, then the doors closed before she could get on.
It is understood the mother's arms were stuck in the doors for a brief period but she got them out before the train left without her.
Help was called when passengers and Metro staff alerted the driver.
Metro staff picked up the child at Flagstaff and waited for the mother to arrive.
The general manager of security for Metro, Anthony Fewster, said it would have been a scary experience.
"This was a frightening ordeal for the mother and child involved, with Metro employees acting quickly to reunite them as soon as possible," he said.
Separation incidents 'not uncommon'
Although the train stopped a short distance from the platform, the woman was not allowed to get the child because Melbourne's trains cannot reverse and due to safety protocols, the doors cannot be opened after the train has left the platform.
"The feedback from station staff and from the mother is that she was extremely relieved, especially with how quickly the situation was resolved," Mr Fewster said.
This type of incident is surprisingly common, Mr Frewster said, and often happened during peak hour at Flinders Street and Southern Cross, and at Richmond station after blockbuster football matches.
"We have parent-child separations possibly every fortnight and they are usually managed in a very similar way," he said.
"It's definitely too many, we want to see people as safe as possible.
"We have seen the trend [go] down over the last six months but a range of behaviours or issues or distractions can result in the separations.
"In my experience [the children have] all been safe … it's just a really stressful time for parents," he said.
Metro is now looking at ways to reduce the number of incidents.
"We're looking at a range of things like platform upgrades, we're improving mirrors and screens for drivers so they can see the whole platform," he said.
"There is an upcoming campaign we're keen to launch around passenger safety."
