A 55-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a passenger was stabbed on a rush-hour Overground train at Hackney Central last night.

Police were called to the station just after 6pm after a knifeman had gone “on the rampage” leaving terrified passengers in “total panic”.

British Transport Police this morning said the victim suffered a “serious stab wound” but is in a stable condition in hospital.

Bunmi Ogunleye, who was on the train, told the Gazette: “A minute before Hackney Central people started running and falling on top if each other.

“They were screaming shoving and pushing.

“A man ran passed us towards the back who was the one stabbed. He collapsed on the floor.

“I looked back and saw this man with a knife on his right hand. I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“He was walking towards us and we were rushing towards the back in total panic.

“The train stopped, we got out and I saw the man still with knife got out and walked out of the station.”

Andy Bramhall was waiting for a bus on the corner of Amhurst Road when he saw people running down the incline from the Overground station.

“Obviously it’s peak time and there were about 20 or 30 people making a hurried exit, and then this man came down and he had a knife in his hand,” he told the Gazette.

“He was holding the knife in his right hand and it was pointing upwards and outwards from his body.

“I spoke to a couple of people who were near him on the train, and according to one he had the knife out on the train and people were getting very edgy. When the train arrived people wanted to leave very suddenly.”

Det Con Insp Sam Blackburn from BTP said: “This was a shocking and violent attack which took place on a busy commuter train. Officers were on the scene within minutes and were able to quickly arrest the suspect and recover the knife.

“We understand this was a very frightening incident for passengers on the train and at the station and would encourage anyone who witnessed the attack to come forward and tell us what they saw.”

The incident is not currently being treated as terror related and extra officers will be in the area today to reassure commuters.

The 55-year-old is also being held on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or with any information can contact BTP by texting 61016, or calling 0800 40 50 40 - quoting reference 512 of 02/10/2018.