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

But he lingered too long over his cigarette and the train doors closed, leaving him with the prospect of being stranded.

He then jumped on to a bracket between two carriages and held on to cables while the train powered on towards Nuremberg at up to 282 km/h (175mph), until federal police brought it to a halt about 30km away.

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

The man, a Hungarian national, told police he had left his luggage on the train during his cigarette break and did not want to be parted from it.

He was “amazingly” unharmed after his daredevil ride, said a police spokesman.

“A police officer from the state police who happened to be travelling with the train found the 40-year-old Hungarian ‘passenger’ and brought him on to the train,” the spokesman said, adding that he was handed over to federal police at Nuremberg central station.

The man is now being investigated for benefit fraud.

He is also expected to face charges for “an act disruptive to operations”, which is classed as a mere administrative offence.

Federal police have warned the public not to risk their lives on Germany’s trains.