A young Sydney man who stepped in to defend a stranger from the racist tirade of an elderly train passenger was left stunned after the abuser turned his hateful words at him.

Joseph Chen was sitting in the vestibule area of an Eastern Suburbs line train when the elderly passenger started yelling at a man sitting next to him for speaking loudly in another language while on the phone, Yahoo7 reports.

After Mr Chen chose to step in, he found himself the elderly man’s new target.

“Yes I’m a racist,” the elderly man yelled at Mr Chen before offering him an intimidating long stare and then turning his back.

“Sir, I was born here and I can speak English just perfectly fine,” Mr Chen said, before choosing stronger words.

“You know what, it’s people like you that make me scared for the future of Australia.”

As nearby passengers watch on in silence, the elderly man turned and looked around the carriage only to discover he was being filmed by another passenger. Undeterred, he continued his rant.

“They all should go back to where they came from,” he sniped in Mr Chen’s direction. “All of them. No manners, no manners what so ever.”

After being asked by Mr Chen whether his comments aren’t just a “bit of a generalisation”, the elderly man snapped: “who’s asking you anyway?”