SAPPORO (Kyodo) A one-manned, one-car train in Kitami, Hokkaido, traveled about 1 km with a high school girl holding onto the outside handle of one of its doors Wednesday evening, the railway said Friday.

The train, which was carrying 20 passengers, reached a speed of about 50 kph at the time of the incident but the girl was not injured, Hokkaido Chihoku Kogen Railways said.

The girl was standing on the platform at Hokkosha Station on the Furusato Ginga (Hometown Galaxy) Line in Kitami at around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, the carrier said.

Because she remained outside the door after other passengers got off, the driver thought she was not going to board and started the train, the company said.

The driver later looked behind and saw her holding onto the door handle, applied the emergency brakes and opened the door for her to get into the train.

The girl had managed to stand on a lip of the doorway. She was quoted as saying, "The door didn't open (even though I pushed the button)."

The door is supposed to open automatically if someone pushes the button, but it didn't because a switch in the driver's station that controls the doors was in lock position.