Melbourne rail commuters and motorists are facing a long journey home after a truck struck two separate underpasses near the city this afternoon.

A large truck carrying an excavator struck the Alexandra Avenue bridge in Cremorne about 2.35pm, causing the excavator's bucket to crash onto the road.

The same truck then hit a rail overpass at the outbound entrance of Citylink at Batman Avenue and Punt Road about 3.15pm.

Traffic that had banked up behind the truck was forced to reverse to give crews access to remove the excavator.

The truck was moved to the left lane and traffic was moving through on the right.

All trains on the Sandringham, Frankston, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines were halted until bridge inspectors deemed the tracks safe.

It's understood trains are slowly returning

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