An elevated Dutch metro train smashed through a safety barrier and was saved from plunging into water by a sculpture of a whale's tail.

The train driver, the only person on board, was uninjured during the incident which happened on Monday just after midnight in Spijkenisse, near the city of Rotterdam. 

The front carriage was left balancing 10 meters above the water, elevated only by the giant sculpture, appropriately named Saved by the Whale's Tail.

"The metro went off the rails and it landed on a monument called Saved by the Whale's Tail. So that literally happened," Carly Gorter, of the Rijnmond regional safety authority, said. "Because of the whale's tail, the driver actually was saved. It's incredible."

The cause of the crash is still being investigated and according to the safety authority, the driver was held for questioning.

The sculpture, which features two large whale tails sticking out of the water, was erected around 20 years ago in a park beneath the raised metro.

Its name is a play on the fact that it is a "tail track" at the end of the line.

A team of experts, including the architect of the sculpture, arrived on site to figure out how to safely remove the train.

"The problem is it has water around it, so a crane isn't able to get there," said Gorter.

"We have a lot of wind at the moment and that's one of the issues that we're facing, that's a risk and worry."