The 20-year-old Parkdale man was standing at the Cromwell Road underpass near Hawksburn station when a train approached at 8.35pm.

"The train driver tried to stop the train but was unable to do so before reaching the man," a police spokeswoman said.

It is not clear if the man was standing on the tracks, or close beside them.

The train driver raised the alarm, believing he had hit the man.

But it turned out the man managed to press himself against a fence to avoid being struck.

Police have deplored his behaviour, saying people need to take care around trains.

The number of near-misses involving trains has decreased in the past year - a trend partly attributed to the success of Metro Train's Dumb Ways to Die campaign.

Between December 2013 and November 2014, 311 people narrowly avoided death on train tracks.

In the past year, the number of people risking their lives decreased to 236.

Metro Trains classifies people who venture onto the tracks as trespassers.

The near-misses occurred on general tracks, not at a level crossing.

Metro spokeswoman Pauline O'Connor said near-misses still occurred far too often.

"Unfortunately, we see people risking their lives around trains, far too often," Ms O'Connor said.

"In this particular case, our driver thought they had hit the person. The innocent witnesses to people trespassing on train tracks are our drivers.

"Unlike a car, our drivers are not able to swerve the train out of the way, or bring it to a stop quickly. After a driver applies the emergency break, it can take up to several hundred metres for the train to come to a stop.

"Our drivers are the innocent victims in these incidents and a memory of a near hit can remain with them forever."

More than 20 train services were affected by Monday's incident, which led to delays of 15 minutes for commuters on the Frankston, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines.

"We can't stress enough, how taking risks around trains, is not only dangerous, it can be fatal," Ms O'Connor said.