Train surfing

Train surfing is a (usually illegal) extreme sport which involves riders climbing or "surfing" on the outside of a moving [train] .

History

The practice is a serious issue in South Africa, where many young people have been killed or injured. It is also on the increase in the United Kingdom. While there are no official numbers, the London Underground is now running an advertising campaign against "tube surfing". The advertisements now at most underground stations show a female figure with one arm and the caption "she was lucky" next to it.

The 'sport' was made popular in the 1980s in Germany. There it was called "S-Bahn Surfing". Slowly the former trainsurfing culture changed and got integrated in the German graffiti culture. The phenomenon was long forgotten until the millennium, but in 2005 it was rediscovered by a gang from Frankfurt, Germany. The leader of the crew who called himself "The Trainrider" famously surfed the InterCityExpress, the fastest train in Germany. An internet video claimed that he died a year later from an incurable form of leukemia, but later "the trainrider" exposed in an interview of [http://www.sat1.de/ratgeber_magazine/akte/topthemen/investigativ/content/20482/ Sat1 Akte 08] this video was made by a fan and the story is a hoax.

According to the media, the phenomenon started in South America during the early 1980s, but likely Trainsurfing exists since the first trains were invented.

An English teenager was killed by hitting a bridge while train surfing in November 2002. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3012375.stm Teenager died 'train surfing', BBC News, 8 May 2003] ] A similar fate hit the Danish train surfer Martin Harris on 12 May 2007. After the incident, a campaign against train surfing was launched by two individuals. The homepage (in Danish) can be found at [http://www.trainsurfing.dk/ www.trainsurfing.dk] .

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5117318.stm South Africa's train-surfing problem] "BBC News"
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/04/1070351690209.html?from=storyrhs Australian news report on a trainsurfing injury]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/3695698.stm Trains surfing teen loses legs] "BBC News"
* [http://www.jinxmagazine.com/train_surfing.html Train Surfing: Assessment of Risk] "Jinx Magazine"
* [http://station2.tv2.dk/article.php?id=4130712 Station 2: Trainsurfing article] "TV2" (résumé and screenshots from tv-doc, Danish language)
* [http://tv.sputnik.dk/page/2749438/channel/4101846/category/4132711-0/clip/4132823/index.html Station 2: Train-surfing documentary] "TV2" (video-on-demand, requires sign-up and payment) ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58_e_9TDsSE Mirror] , login-free leak at YouTube)
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZvm5H4F-aA Trainsurfer Surfs Germany's Bullet Train] on YouTube
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3691932287921367141 Trainrider DVD Trailer] on Google Video
* [http://forum.nahverkehr-ffm.de/thread.php?threadid=4836 A May '05 post to a German online forum] documenting the trainsurfing of the InterCityExpress train from Hanau.
* [http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.nahverkehr-ffm.de%2Fthread.php%3Fthreadid%3D4836&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools A May '05 post to a German online forum] documenting the trainsurfing of the InterCityExpress train from Hanau. "'(Google Translated from German to English)"'
* [http://insomnia.livejournal.com/721066.html A weblog post] claiming that the Trainrider may have faked his death. The post contains an anonymous comment claiming to be from a friend of the Trainrider, who says he is very much alive. The Trainrider later performed in a tv-report below, and thus it is official that he isn't dead.
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=RfQOQBxV7jQ German TV-report] featuring an interview of Trainrider alive ( [http://youtube.com/watch?v=DoT9vTx3_ms subtitled version] in English)
* [http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-6950075.html Danish news article] about the first official train surfing accident in Denmark
* [http://www.trainsurfing.dk/ Trainsurfing.dk] campaign launched against train surfing after Denmark's first deadly accident
* [http://www.railorama.dk/artikler/?mID=87 The Trainrider] The complete account of The Trainrider, Danish language