Cleaning lady accused of stealing train in Sweden, crashing into apartments

A cleaning lady in Sweden stole a train and crashed it into an apartment building.

Investigators were initially stumped as to how a commuter train careened off its tracks and crashed into a kitchen of a flat in Saltsjöbaden, an affluent suburb south of Stockholm, in the early hours of Tuesday.

But it later transpired that the cleaner, a woman in her 20s, managed to start the four-car train, which had no passengers, and take it for a joy ride, according to train operator Arriva.

She drove it at high speed some 1.5 kilometers to the end station on the railway line, before it jumped off the rails and travelled another 25 meters before crashing into the three-storey building.

The woman suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the crash and was flown to a local hospital, police spokesman Lars Bystrom said. Three families live in the building, but none were injured following the 2.30am crash, police added.

A representative of Arriva said it’s unclear how the cleaner got the keys to the train, and added that she had not previously been employed as a driver.

“It is possible to start the train if you have training and access to a key, but exactly how this happened we have no answer to,” Arriva spokesman Tomas Hedenius told Metro.