Man clings to Austrian high-speed train and survives

The man late Saturday grabbed onto the outside of the train at St Poelten, west of Vienna, railways spokesman Herbert Hofer told AFP, and was later taken onboard after the train performed an emergency stop.

"It is irresponsible, this kind of thing usually ends up with someone dying," he said.

"And you're not just putting yourself in danger, if you end up under the train there's rescuers, there's police, fire service that come," he added.

The railjet train was on its way from Zurich in Switzerland to the Austrian capital and left Sankt Poelten on time but arrived in Vienna with a seven-minute delay, Hofer said.

Citing a passenger onboard, Austrian tabloid Heute said the man jumped into the space between two carriages after the train began to set off from a planned stop in Sankt Poelten.

The man had taken advantage of being at a station to smoke a cigarette on the platform, Heute said.

The man soon began to bang on windows to attract attention, Heute said, resulting in the train's conductor activating the emergency brake before train crew took the man aboard.

"The conductor really had a very big go at him," the passenger told Heute.

The man is a 24-year-old Algerian and was led away by police after the train arrived in Vienna's Meidling station, Heute reported.

Hofer said he could not comment on the man's background ahead of further investigations.

In January, a 40-year-old Hungarian man survived clinging to a German high-speed train for 20 miles, likewise after it set off before he had finished his cigarette.