A 24-year-old Algerian man went through hell and back. He had a death grip on the side of a high-speed railjet train in Austria. The fire occurred on Saturday evening as the train was making its scheduled route from Sankt Poelten to Vienna. Yet it had left on time from its intended pick up location.
With a loud hum, the railjet train accelerated to speeds of 230 kilometers per hour (143 miles per hour). In between, the man’s decision to take a very short cigarette break before the trip really started. He dove into the tight gap between two train cars at the last minute, right when the subway launched. Eyewitness accounts indicate the train had a seven-minute stop when it pulled into Vienna’s Meidling station.
Once the emergency stop was made, the train crew immediately went into action. Even at the tremendous speeds, they were able to rapidly recover the one man who had hung on outside the train. We still don’t know how fast the train was going during this dangerous turn. But as soon as he landed in Vienna, police whisked him away for questioning over his dangerous antics.
The event sent a wave of panic through travelers and security officials. One passenger recounted the conductor’s reaction: “The conductor really had a very big go at him,” noting the tension created by the situation.
Herbert Hofer, a member of Austria’s railways board, told MPs this week about the dangers of taking such steps. He stated, “It is irresponsible, this kind of thing usually ends up with someone dying.”
This occurrence, while awful, seems to have all the elements of a great success from January. A 40-year-old Hungarian man hanging on to the outside of a German high speed train survived a mind boggling 32 KMS. Worryingly, such reckless behavior puts passengers at risk as well as the overall operation of passenger rail.