The foreign student, 26, turned onto the tracks instead of a small road just after a level crossing at Oulton Broad.
His car then got stuck between a cattle grid and track, Suffolk Police said.
Trains were stopped after the student and his passenger failed to push their Daewoo Matiz off the line at Oulton Broad North station on Tuesday night.
Trains on the line from Lowestoft to Norwich were delayed for more than an hour before a recovery vehicle towed the car away at 2040 GMT.
Police said the driver could face prosecution following the incident near the border of Norfolk and Suffolk.
"If a train hits a car, there's only one winner"
A British Transport Police spokesman said: "He drove onto a level crossing when his sat-nav told him to turn right.
"The car became embedded in a cattle grid he caused delays of up to an hour."
He said that the line was not busy and no one was in danger.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "This was a lucky escape. If a train hits a car, there's only one winner.
"Thankfully, it's a quiet route so we were able to stop oncoming trains in time.
"If it had been the mainline he may not have been so lucky."
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