Disturbing video shows 'idiotic' teens playing chicken with trains
Sydney’s rail bosses have released video of teenage boys playing chicken with trains as they plead for an end to the thrill seekers risking their lives.
In one of the videos, two of them are seen clinging to the back of a train at Lakemba Station in June. On the same day, they’re also seen passing through Belmore on the back of the carriage.
A young man at Bankstown is seen doing the same thing.
They are also putting videos of their exploits on social media – infuriating rail authorities.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance labelled the behaviour as “idiotic” and wants to put an end to it.
“We have 10,000 CCTV cameras across the network, which will pick these fools up and we will prosecute them,” he said.
There were 110 cases of train surfing reported in the past 12 months – nearly three times the number of incidents in 2016.
According to recent testing, a Sydney train travelling at 100km/h takes three football fields to come to a complete stop.
Tony Eid of Sydney Trains said “it’s completely stupid” to play “Russian roulette with a 400-tonne train”.
Anyone caught train surfing could be fined $5000 or face charges.
In June, an Australian man lost his limbs after an apparent train surfing incident in Canada.
The 25-year-old man told Canadian police he was “riding the train” and fell off, suffering serious injuries, including severed or partially severed limbs.
In April, a WA train surfer was filmed performing a shocking and potentially life-threatening stunt off a carriage.
Video uploaded to Facebook shows the moment the person, seated on the roof carriage, leaps off as the train travels across a rail bridge between Fremantle and North Fremantle.
As he lands in the water, the train surfer narrowly misses a pillar before swimming off in the Swan River.
Public Transport Authority WA’s Clare Krol told Yahoo7 she was aware of the video and was not impressed.
“It was incredibly stupid,” she said.
“If you look at the video he’s very lucky not to be electrocuted by wires hanging over the train line then he nearly hit the concrete pylon after diving.”
