Approximately 100 passengers were evacuated and one person was taken to hospital after a metropolitan train broke down in the city loop tunnel.

Commuters on the Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sandringham lines faced major delays across Sunday afternoon and evening as Metro worked to remove the broken-down train.

The line was eventually cleared about 10.25pm.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) spokesman Trevor Woodward said emergency services were first called to the underground tunnel about 2.20pm after reports a train had become stuck between Melbourne Central and Parliament stations.

The trapped passengers were stranded for more than two hours as fire crews manually evacuated people from both the affected train and another service which had been forced to stop.