A 59-year-old man who held on to the side of a high-speed train in Germany has managed to survive the ride, according to media reports.

The man, who is believed to be Romanian, realised he had left his luggage inside the train after it started leaving the station, said operator Deutsche Bahn on Thursday (Sept 28).

Not willing to separate from his luggage, the man then grabbed plastic bellows connecting two carriages of the train and used a small ledge to stand on for the 160kmh journey, reported the BBC.

The express train was travelling from Bielefeld to Hannover.

The man was spotted by rail personnel, who alerted the driver, and the train was slowed down before stopping at a station 25km away.

"The 59-year-old can thank the rail personnel for the fact that he is still alive," a police spokesman was quoted in the BBC as saying.

The man, who was not named, later continued his journey inside the carriage to Hannover, where he was reportedly questioned by the police, according to local media reports.

It is not known if he will face any charges for the brazen act.

Similar acts have been reported elsewhere in the world, including Australia, where a man was arrested for clinging on to the windscreen wiper on the back of a train in Perth last Saturday (Sept 23).

That man was taken to the hospital for a mental health assessment.