Man survives after clinging to high-speed train in Austria after getting off to have a cigarette

https://i.redd.it/w4gu7a1zbcif1.jpeg

by Strict_League7833

46 comments

  1. A man has survived clinging to the outside of a high-speed train in Austria, the state railway said, after it reportedly left while he was having a cigarette break.

    The man grabbed on to the outside of the train at St Poelten, west of Vienna, late on Saturday, said Austrian railways spokesperson Herbert Hofer, 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,” Hofer 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.”

    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.

    Railjet trains have a maximum speed of 230km/h, but it is not known what speed the train was moving at while the man was clinging on.

  5. Also wie man so saudeppad sein kann, nicht für ein paar Stunden oder bis zum nächsten längeren Aufenthalt auf die Tschick zu verzichten zu können, werd ich selbst als Raucher nie verstehen. A ganze Reise zum Teufel hauen wegen dem Dreck – traurig.

    Wenn der Zug Verspätung hat, wird der Aufenthalt gekürzt. Nix neues.

  6. Well procedures will have to change. It’s the entire job of train dispatchers to make sure there isn’t anyone trapped in the doors or clinging on before giving the driver the Right Away (or whatever the Austrian term is)

  7. He probably only survived because austrian high speed standards (230 km/h) do not match the high speed standards of other developed countries

  8. Who knows if this story about that he was smoking and that his luggage was on the train is even true. At the moment it appears that this guy has no legal status in Austria. Maybe he was just trying to illegaly hitch a train ride and wasn’t aware that it’s actually a high speed train!? (the high speed trains in Austria look pretty regular compared to high speed trains in other countries)

    Edit: i’m seeing i’m already being downvoted for this commment, but honestly, I think you must be really stupid to cling on the outside of a high speed train because of your luggage (and yes, if he already was in the train before, then he’d know that the train goes +200km/h). So, either it’s just a complete moron or something fishy was going on here, just saying. 🙂

  10. Pity tobacco advertising is banned, that would have made a great advert….

  13. This guy was really insane. He really needed to take that train, I guess. xD

  14. He was probably like shiiiii can’t be late for my minimum wage job! Best hang on to this high speed train and hope I don’t die”

  15. When I was a teenager me and my friends bummed this guy for a smoke. I kindly asked if he could share a smoke and he said “I’ll give you a fucking smoke”. Then he proceeded to cut me and my friends with razor blade which we didn’t even notice till we saw blood everywhere. While driving an ambulance to the hospital I shared what happened with medic. He calmly said “smoking kills” and it stayed with me.

  16. So did he make it? Did he finish his cigarette? I’m going to Austria next week I need to know. I’m a greek chimney.

  17. I was about to say that this likely wasn’t “high-speed rail”, but funny enough that guy tried this exactly on one of the very few high-speed rail sections (limited at 250km/h) in Austria.
    From St. Pölten to Vienna-Meidling. So theres a chance they were going 230km/h, as that is the top speed of the railjet. Though, they did stop just 2km into the journey, so it probably wasn’t at full speed.

    lol, what an idiot.

  18. I’m imagining him hitting the side of a tunnel 🙊.

    This sort of almost never going to happen scenario is the type of thing people with severe anxiety worry about.

  19. Upcoming Tom Cruise stunt with a new movie in pipeline

  24. We need a strict Europewide ban of smoking on the train stations.
    Not only because of non smokers being completely annoyed by the smoke, but also to prevent those addicts to do stuff like this.

  25. Crazy. Saw a guy yesterday in Amsterdam who got off to play a prank on his friend by looking in from outside, doors closed and the train took off without him and he bolted after it knocking on windows. Felt bad for him as all his things were inside, but gave me a chuckle since it reminded me of Mr. Bean lol

  27. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/man-survives-after-clinging-to-high-speed-austrian-train-after-getting-off-to-have-a-cigarette](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/man-survives-after-clinging-to-high-speed-austrian-train-after-getting-off-to-have-a-cigarette)

    “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, a 24-year-old Algerian, was led away by police after the train arrived in Vienna’s Meidling station, Heute said. He could not comment on the man’s background ahead of further investigations, he said.”

    It’s 62km from St. Polten station to Meddling station, and the trip is about half and hour. It’s astounding that nothing worse happened.

  30. > It is irresponsible, this kind of thing *usually* ends up with someone dying

    Huh, do a lot of people cling to the outside of a high speed train there?

  31. And they say smokers are unhealthy. This one’s doing impromptu _Mission: Impossible_ stunts without any safety equipment 😂

  32. Wtf is this Bot Post and bot account from the OP? the picture is not even related.

  40. Downvote for unrelated train picture? No link to an article? What is this?

  41. Why did they let him on the train after that, I’d have him arrested. Had he fell off he would’ve potentially traumatized an entire train filled with people, fuck that dude

  46. lol considering the next train would probably take off in max 50 minutes, this man really hateed the idea of st. Pölten.

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