People power helps free man trapped by train

Commuters pitch in to help free a man whose leg became trapped between the station platform and a commuter train carriage at Stirling station north of Perth.

It took a dash of people power to free a man whose leg became caught between a train and a platform north of Perth yesterday.

Dozens of passengers rocked a train carriage back and forth to free the man.

A Transperth spokesman said the man was boarding the train into the city at Stirling Station when he stepped awkwardly, causing him to slip down the gap. David Hynes said it was an impressive feat because the gap between the train and platform was less than 5cm.

The man whose leg became trapped (right) between the station platform and a commuter train carriage.

Passengers were asked to stand to the other side of the carriage to push the weight away from the man but it was not enough to free him, Hynes said. "When that didn't work, they got people off and gathered together enough of them to line up, 50 or so, and say 'one, two, three, push'," he said.

A passenger, known only as Nic, said: "We were able to move the train quite a bit. The train moved 5-10cm on its suspension, which was enough to free his leg." He said the man appeared to be in shock but not in pain, and was lifted to safety by two other passengers once the gap widened. Paramedics treated the man but he was not badly injured and caught a later train.

Nic said the incident had made him rethink the warning "mind the gap". "It's not something you sort of think about or really take seriously. I always thought it was a bit of a joke but now, yeah, you kind of do."

Hynes thanked the passengers involved in the rescue and congratulated the staff for their quick thinking. "We hear a lot about poor behaviour on public transport. It's really great when something like this happens and people work together to help a fellow commuter. Everyone sort of pitched in. It was people power that saved someone from possibly quite serious injury."

- AAP