TRAINS came to a grinding halt on major Melbourne lines as racegoers bound for Flemington Racecourse became stuck on terminals and carriages earlier today.

Extra trains had been put on from Southern Cross Station to service punters and racegoers attending The Turnbull Stakes — a the feature event on a nine-race card at Flemington Racecourse.

Champion mare Winx will make her highly anticipated Flemington debut as she aims to extend her winning streak to 21 in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes.

But just minutes before the additional services were scheduled to start operating, the train network crashed in the city between Flinders St and Richmond. A Metro Trains spokesman said the failure was the result of a “signalling issue”.

Services have been suspended on the Glen Waverley Line with buses replacing trains between Caulfield and Darling.

“Some services may be held,” a Metro Trains tweet read.

“Buses will replace trains Parliament — Camberwell due to a signalling issue.”

Alamein/Belgrave/Glen Waverley/Lilydale lines: Major delays due to a signalling issue Flinders St - Richmond. Some services may be held. — Metro Trains (@metrotrains) October 6, 2017

We're running extra trains from Southern Cross to @FlemingtonVRC for the Seppelt Turnbull Stakes Day. Info: https://t.co/7RlUB1agZT. pic.twitter.com/rjfnaqzw1V — Metro Trains (@metrotrains) October 6, 2017

Racegoers who are catching trains on the Alamein/Belgrave/Lilydale lines please note buses are replacing train from Camberwell to Parliament https://t.co/l2XyGUgw5b — FlemingtonRacecourse (@FlemingtonVRC) October 7, 2017

One passenger stuck on a train told news.com.au that Metro Trains had “just made an announcement that they basically won’t be able to fix anything within an hour or so”.

Others took to social media to air their frustrations.

“Trying to get to the races has never been so difficult #ridiculous, ” one person posted to Twitter.

“Waiting 4 replacement bus. Lady in wheelchair waited over an hour for an accessible bus. Turns up full!,” another wrote.

Any chance of a replacement bus arriving sometime today? Glad I'm not trying to get to the airport. — James Roddis (@JamesRoddis1) October 7, 2017

Trapped in train for over an hour and about to piss myself @metrotrains — Johnathan (@Johnathanvwebb) October 7, 2017

I'm gonna be late for my own book launch, thanks @metrotrains! Just cancel the train, that's fine. 1/2 — Martin Nixon (@Captain_Faraday) October 7, 2017

All trains stuck from Burnley so I've walked from there to Richmond and still beat the 70 tram #powerwalk @metrotrains #lateforwork — George Kopelis (@GeorgeKopelis) October 7, 2017

I take that back... they just announced no trains to the city until further notice! — Hannah Cammack (@HannahLJCammack) October 7, 2017

trains cactus - again ... no buses at camberwell so just fend for yourself ... nice @metrotrains — Nathaniel Bane (@natbane) October 7, 2017

The incident comes after a computer fault brought down Melbourne’s entire train system and caused peak hour chaos just three months ago.

Metro was forced to plead with commuters stuck between stations from 4pm-10pm not to attempt to open the doors of their train.

Uber initiated a 3.6x price surge, with a fare from Southbank to Cheltenham costing more than $130 shortly after trains stopped.

Metro Trains’ website crashed, further adding to the chaos.

Passengers on-board services currently stopped between stations, please do not attempt to force doors open and alight from the train — Metro Trains (@metrotrains) July 13, 2017

megan.palin@news.com.au