THE TRAIN RIDER
Train surfing is a dangerous (and usually illegal) thrill-seeking activity which involves riders clinging or "surfing" on the outside of a moving train while trying to avoid falling off during its acceleration. Practitioners are usually young people (under 25). Potential accidents include collisions with poles and viaducts/tunnels, electrocution from an electrified overhead wire or third rail, injury when falling/jumping off, getting run over by the train itself, and getting crushed between the train and a station platform.
The practice is a serious issue in South Africa, where many young people have been killed or seriously 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. And 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. A home-made video claimed that he died a year later from an incurable form of leukemia, but evidence has been revealed which disproves this (see External links below).
No one seems to know where, when or who first invented or performed train surfing, although reports from Denmark state that the hobby was practiced during the 1980s and apparently forgotten until several years after 2000. According to the media, the phenomenon started in South America during the early 80s.
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