When the station dispatcher saw that the train had started to move, he rushed out of his office and used a lantern and two whistles to signal "stop by any possible means". The duty of the senior conductor during departure was to observe signals coming from the station, but he had already begun to check tickets. One of the switchmen jumped on a bicycle and unsuccessfully attempted to catch up with the train. The station dispatcher tried to call a signal box two kilometers away to ask the staff there to stop train 653. However, the signalman had left the box to watch the arriving train 653 and only picked up the phone after the train had passed. Meanwhile, the switchman from the signal box in Stéblová informed the station dispatcher that train 608 had just passed him, leaving the station area.