The victim, a Polish citizen, attempted to board an InterCity train heading to Geneva late Sunday afternoon as it was pulling out of the station, according to a report from La Liberté newspaper, citing a statement issued by Vaud cantonal police.

The man directed an unsteady foot in the direction of the carriages, “tried to hang on to the moving train . . , (and) lost his balance before falling between the platform and the railway tracks,” police said.

La Liberté reported that one of the victim’s legs, jammed between the train and the edge of platform number 5, was severed.

A doctor, two ambulance attendants and firemen quickly arrived on the scene but were unable to save the man, who died from his injuries.

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) earlier notified Fribourg cantonal police at around 3.20pm that the man was drunk and had fallen on the floor of a train travelling from Geneva to Lucerne, La Liberté reported.

Two doctors travelling on the train had first noticed him and the fact he had a gash on his forehead.

At the Fribourg train station, cantonal police checked the man, who told officers that he lived in Lausanne, La Liberté reported.

Police then accompanied him on to another InterCity train heading to the Vaud capital, where he fell asleep, the newspaper said.

SBB staff woke the man up when the train arrived in Lausanne and an employee accompanied him to a bench on the platform.

The victim died while trying to board the train he had just got off, police said.

An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of the accident.

It was the second fatal accident involving a train in the canton of Vaud on Sunday.

A 24-year-old pedestrian was struck by a train at around 6am on the Montreux-Oberland Bernois (MOB) railway near Les Avants, a village several kilometres northeast of Montreux.

The victim, a local resident, became separated from a group of friends after visiting a local music festival, Vaud police said.

Police are still looking into the causes of the mishap.