An elderly man was seriously injured on Sunday afternoon after being pushed onto railway tracks in front of an incoming train at Grenchen Nord station in the Swiss canton of Solothurn, with the attacker still at large.
According to the Solothurn cantonal police, the pensioner was standing on the platform when an unidentified man approached and asked him for money. Shortly afterward, the suspect allegedly shoved the victim onto the tracks as a train entered the station.
The train struck the man, causing severe injuries, particularly to his legs. Emergency services treated him at the scene before he was airlifted by helicopter to the hospital. Police say the suspect fled toward nearby parking areas and remains unidentified. Investigators say the man had spoken with several people in the station area before the assault and are appealing for witnesses. He was described as being 180 centimeters tall with a beard and a backpack. No further description was offered.
The incident comes amid growing concern across Europe over violent incidents occurring on public transport networks, involving both passengers and railway employees.
In Hamburg earlier this year, an 18-year-old girl died after a man dragged her onto subway tracks as a train approached Wandsbek-Markt station. Police said the two did not know each other and had been standing separately on the platform when the suspect suddenly seized the woman and forced both onto the tracks. Both were killed instantly when struck by the train. Authorities later identified the suspect as a 25-year-old man from South Sudan.
In another German case that drew national attention, a 16-year-old girl was killed last August at Friedland station in Lower Saxony after being pushed in front of a freight train by an Iraqi national. He is currently undergoing psychiatric treatment after being deemed criminally irresponsible for the incident.
Violence has also increasingly affected railway staff. Near Homburg, ticket controller Serkan C., 36, died after being violently assaulted during a ticket inspection. According to investigators, a 26-year-old suspect became aggressive when asked to show his ticket and allegedly attacked the conductor after being told he would have to leave the train. The victim was resuscitated at the scene but later died in hospital.
There has been some confusion regarding the nationality of the attacker, with Greek media describing him as a Syrian national, and German outlets insisting he was Greek. He was later described as a “Greek resident.” Deutsche Bahn executive Evelyn Palla said the company was deeply saddened by the employee’s death, while the Railway and Transport Union called for stronger protections for transport staff.
Government data in Germany indicated that during the first 10 months of last year, on average, five Deutsche Bahn employees were physically assaulted each day while on duty, with an additional four daily cases involving threats.
Union officials in the German state of Thuringia have warned that staff increasingly face threats and assaults, and some conductors have reportedly avoided checking tickets in situations considered high risk following repeated confrontations.
Passengers have also been targeted elsewhere. In France, official statistics published in September 2025 showed foreigners accounted for 41 percent of violent robberies and physical and sexual violence cases on public transport nationwide in 2024, rising to 64 percent in the Paris region. Authorities recorded an 86 percent increase in victims of violence on public transport over the past decade, with women accounting for the vast majority of sexual assault victims.
Elsewhere in Europe, railway workers have also been victims of violent crime. In Bologna, train conductor Alessandro Ambrosio, 34, was found stabbed to death near a staff parking area at the city’s main station, prompting a homicide investigation. In Italy’s Verona, a Malian national was shot and killed by police after attacking an officer with a knife inside Porta Nuova station, a shooting later ruled legitimate self-defense by prosecutors after more than two years of investigation.
Similarly, in Britain, foreign nationals accounted for nearly 40 percent of railway-related arrests last year and 79 percent of arrests for theft on trains, according to figures released through a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) think tank.
Switzerland has also seen serious cases beyond Sunday’s incident. Courts in Zurich are currently hearing a case involving a 63-year-old man originally from Sri Lanka, accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting teenage boys on trains running from Zurich toward Olten and Aarau. Prosecutors allege the assaults followed a deliberate pattern over several years.
NEW: 🇩🇪‼️ CCTV captured the moment a 54-year-old Turkish national pulled out a pistol and executed a man with a point-blank shot to the head at a crowded train station in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening.
In the 11-second attack, the gunman fired a total of three shots in cold… pic.twitter.com/zqB9l1zKpW
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 21, 2024The migrant suspect told the Zurich High Court that he “occasionally feels the urge to touch young men” and claimed he was now prepared to take medication to suppress his sex drive.
