Three teenagers have been accused of holding up a train for nearly 50 minutes by placing a garden dwarf on a high-speed rail track in France, police sources said.

A train from Paris to the eastern city of Strasbourg had to stop near Saverne in the lower Rhine region at around 10.30pm, after running over a ballast and a garden dwarf on the tracks.

The source said the 15 and 16 year-olds admitted to the offence and will be tried before a juvenile court shortly. The driver reported no damage to the train.

AFP