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A fare-dodging passenger on a German high-speed train ended up clinging to the outside when it pulled out of the station before he was ready to get on, police say.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old man had boarded the ICE train in Munich without a valid ticket and wanted to take a smoking break at the station in Ingolstadt.<\/p>\n
But he lingered too long over his cigarette and the train doors closed, leaving him with the prospect of being stranded.<\/p>\n
He then jumped on to a bracket between two carriages and held on to cables while the train powered on towards Nuremberg at up to 282 km\/h (175mph), until federal police brought it to a halt about 30km away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Witnesses alerted officials and they contacted the train driver, who made an unscheduled stop at Kinding in Upper Bavaria. The intercity express was on a six-hour journey to the northern city of L\u00fcbeck.<\/p>\n
The man, a Hungarian national, told police he had left his luggage on the train during his cigarette break and did not want to be parted from it.<\/p>\n
He was “amazingly” unharmed after his daredevil ride, said a police spokesman. <\/p>\n
“A police officer from the state police who happened to be travelling with the train found the 40-year-old Hungarian ‘passenger’ and brought him on to the train,” the spokesman said, adding that he was handed over to federal police at Nuremberg central station.<\/p>\n
The man is now being investigated for benefit fraud. <\/p>\n
He is also expected to face charges for “an act disruptive to operations”, which is classed as a mere administrative offence.<\/p>\n
Federal police have warned the public not to risk their lives on Germany’s trains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n