Man survives clinging to high-speed German train

A man clung on to the outside of a German high-speed train, surviving unscathed as it barrelled along at up to 282 kilometres an hour, police said on Friday.

The 40-year-old Hungarian man was taking a cigarette break at a platform in Bavaria when the train doors slammed shut, prompting him to jump onto the bracket between two carriages.

The unidentified man later told police he opted for the daredevil act because his luggage was still onboard the Intercity Express (ICE) train headed cross-country from Munich to Luebeck.

He spent the next 30 kilometres gripping onto cables before the train was brought to a controlled stop after witnesses had spotted the stowaway and alerted authorities.

The man had boarded the train in the southern city of Munich but took the smoke break in Ingolstadt. Police arrested him in the Bavarian town of Kinding before the train continued north.

The man was being investigated for financial impropriety since he did not have a valid ticket, federal police said, as well as for acts that disturb normal operations.

In 2017, a 59-year-old man likewise survived clinging to carriage cables for 25 kilometres on the Hannover-Bielefeld Express.

Police asked the public to inform train staff immediately if they see people riding outside trains and implored people to avoid similar "life-threatening nonsense."

Agence France-Presse