The team of 35 volunteers will search a site in southwestern Poland after two researchers — Piotr Koper of Poland and Andreas Richter of Germany — claimed a year ago to have located the train by using radar technology.
"The train is not a needle in the haystack — if there is one, we will find it," project spokesman Andrzej Gaik told Agence France-Presse.
Koper told Polish television that it should be clear by Thursday whether there is a train at the spot between the towns of Wroclaw and Walbrzych, AFP reported.
According to local legend, as Nazi Germany forces fled Soviet troops in 1945, they hid the train containing gold, jewels, weapons and treasured artwork in a secret tunnel near Wroclaw. Historians maintain the train’s existence has never been proved.
Janusz Madej, a professor at Krakow's AGH University of Science and Technology, said he found no evidence of such a train last year after the researchers announced they had detected it. Madej said he surveyed the area with magnetic, gravimetric and geo-radar studies, according to German news outlet dw.com.
He said at the time he was sure there isn’t a train, but he noted there may be a tunnel, the BBC reported.
If that’s the case, it might still be worth digging, Gaik told AFP.
“Even if we find a tunnel, that'll also be a success," he said. "The train could be hidden in it."
