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Train graffiti gangs risking death for social media snaps

A dangerous social media trend has seen teen Sydney vandals flock to train tracks around the city in an effort to capture "death wish" snaps.

Few Kool Cats are just one of several graffiti gangs putting their lives at risk by laying across active train tracks, hanging on to the back of speeding carriages and tagging Sydney trains, all in the name of social media fame.

Their actions have been slammed by Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins who told The Daily Telegraph it would only take mere seconds for something to go fatally wrong.

“It only takes a train accelerating quickly or braking suddenly to shake someone buffer riding onto the tracks,” Mr Collins said.

Wannabe social media stars are filming themselves laying across active train tracks. Source: Instagram
Wannabe social media stars are filming themselves laying across active train tracks. Source: Instagram
Members of Few Kool Kats graffiti gang have caused an uproar with their brazen social media accounts. Source: Instagram
Members of Few Kool Kats graffiti gang have caused an uproar with their brazen social media accounts. Source: Instagram
A Melbourne gang that refers to themselves as the 'Sky High Idiots' perform similar stunts. Source: Instagram
A Melbourne gang that refers to themselves as the 'Sky High Idiots' perform similar stunts. Source: Instagram

“If the fall doesn’t kill you, the next train coming along probably will. It can take a train hundreds of metres to stop under emergency braking and you won’t hear them coming.”

As is often the case with social media trends, those involved desperately try and out-perform their competition, only for the boundaries to be pushed too far, ending in tragedy.

In addition to the inherent risks involved with their dangerous behaviour, it is believed Sydney's graffiti gangs have caused more than $100,000 worth of damage to local trains in recent years.

Their actions follow the likes of Melbourne gang Sky High Idiots who made headlines in 2016 for their Instagram videos, showing half naked teenagers hanging off the back of speeding carriages, before taking their stunts to the next level and riding on the top of the trains.

“A lot of people ride on the backs of trains but nobody’s riding on the top really,” one male daredevil boasted to 7 News after his dangerous video went viral.

“We’ve all accepted that everyone’s going to die one day, there’s no reason to be concerned about it,” one gang member told 7 News.

Members of the Sky High Idiots pose on the back of a Melbourne train. Source: Instagram
Members of the Sky High Idiots pose on the back of a Melbourne train. Source: Instagram
Social media videos and images show the daredevils tagging moving trains. Source: NSW Police Media
Social media videos and images show the daredevils tagging moving trains. Source: NSW Police Media
It's believed the Sydney graffiti gangs have caused more than $100,000 damage to local trains in recent years. Source: NSW Police Media
It's believed the Sydney graffiti gangs have caused more than $100,000 damage to local trains in recent years. Source: NSW Police Media

Remarkably youths only face a $78 penalty for clinging onto the back of the trains, while adults face a steeper $389 fine.

However, people caught illegally entering a rail corridor face fines of up to $5,500 for trespassing.

James Wilkinson, Joshua Green and Jordan Porter, all teenagers, have been killed riding on the backs of trains in separate incidents dating back to 2012.

The 17-year-old Mr Wilkinson was tragically electrecuted while train surfing on top of a Melbourne train in 2012.