VIENNA, Aug 11 — A man chased after a high-speed train and wedged himself between two carriages after it departed while he was on a cigarette break, according to a report from Austrian media yesterday cited by the German news agency dpa.
According to the Austrian tabloid Heute, the 24-year-old man had boarded the Railjet in Innsbruck and was travelling to Vienna. The Algerian national stepped off at St Pölten, about 60 kilometres west of the Austrian capital, to smoke a cigarette, leaving his luggage on board.
When the train set off without him at 10.03 pm local time on Saturday as scheduled, the 24-year-old ran alongside it and climbed between two carriages, holding on as the train picked up speed.
According to Heute, the train reached speeds of 100 kilometres per hour, when the man knocked on the windows from the outside and prompted the conductor to make an emergency stop a few kilometres from where he got on. The man was then brought safely inside the carriage.
The tabloid cited authorities as saying the man's actions were reckless and dangerous.
Police intercepted the man in Vienna-Meidling. According to Heute, he did not have valid residency documents and was taken into custody.
Despite the incident, the train arrived in Vienna just seven minutes late. The railway operator is investigating the case, and the man faces possible legal action.
