diff --git a/gateway/run.py b/gateway/run.py
index d3ee8d4a018..4bb85ea7d69 100644
--- a/gateway/run.py
+++ b/gateway/run.py
@@ -10807,6 +10807,12 @@ async def start_gateway(config: Optional[GatewayConfig] = None, replace: bool =
                 except (ProcessLookupError, PermissionError, OSError):
                     pass
             remove_pid_file()
+            # remove_pid_file() is a no-op when the PID doesn't match.
+            # Force-unlink to cover the old-process-crashed case.
+            try:
+                (get_hermes_home() / "gateway.pid").unlink(missing_ok=True)
+            except Exception:
+                pass
             # Clean up any takeover marker the old process didn't consume
             # (e.g. SIGKILL'd before its shutdown handler could read it).
             try: