A 73-year-old man drove his car on railway tracks for about 1.3 km along Osaka's Yodogawa Ward on Wednesday, passing a train running in the opposite direction, police said.
The man reportedly told police he "got lost and entered the tracks by mistake."
According to the police, at around 10:20 p.m. on Wednesday, the unnamed man, who is from Anjo, Aichi Prefecture, drove the car onto the tracks from a grade crossing near Minamikata Station in central Osaka on the Hankyu Kyoto Line.
He continued driving for about six minutes toward Kyoto Prefecture until he approached Sozenji Station and got off the tracks at a different crossing, the police said.
An employee of a nearby restaurant said he saw sparks flying from a sedan as it drove on the tracks toward Sozenji Station at a speed of 30-40 kph.
The Kyoto Line, which connects Kawaramachi Station in the city of Kyoto and Umeda Station in Osaka's Kita Ward, was suspended for about 10 minutes. Nobody was injured.