Passengers cling to the German high-speed train after the smoke clears

A fare-dodging passenger on a high-speed German train ended up clinging to the outside as it pulled out of a station before he was ready to board it, police said.

The 40-year-old man boarded the ICE train in Munich without a valid ticket and wanted to take a smoke break at Ingolstadt station.

But he lingered on his cigarette too long and the train doors closed, leaving him with the option of standing still.

He then jumped onto a support between two carriages and held on to the cables as the train sped towards Nuremberg at 282 km/h (175mph) until federal police stopped it about 30 kilometers away.

Witnesses alerted officials and contacted the driver of the train, which made an unscheduled stop at Kinding in Upper Bavaria. The intercity express was a six-hour journey to the northern city of Lübeck.

The man, a Hungarian citizen, told the police that he left his luggage on the train during the cigarette break and did not want to leave it.

He was “significantly” unharmed after his daring ride, a police spokesman said.

“A state police officer traveling with the train found the 40-year-old Hungarian ‘passenger’ and brought him onto the train,” the spokesman said, adding that he was handed over to federal police. Nuremberg Central Station.

The man is now being investigated for benefit fraud.

He is also expected to be charged with “an act that interferes with operations”, which is classified as a simple administrative offence.

Federal police have warned citizens not to risk their lives on German trains.