A social media trend has teenagers putting themselves in serious danger on Sydney trains, leaving rail authorities concerned with no real way of stopping it.
The trend, called “ridgy popping”, consists of teenagers accessing the crew compartment of the old K-set model trains.
They then record themselves as they hang from the back of the moving train.
Because most of the old K-set models are out of commission, the trend only happens on specific train lines, including the T8 Macarthur Line.
One video, posted to TikTok, shows two girls hanging out the back of a train as it travelled between Revesby and MacArthur stations, while they were on the way to school.
“It’s obviously very dangerous, that could certainly cause a fatality, one mistake and you’re dead [or] seriously injured,” Revesby Councillor David Walsh said.
“I’m sure the vast majority of them are very responsible kids, but there’s a few irresponsible ones, that behaviour just needs to be cracked down on, you can’t allow that.”
The teenagers are able to break into the crew compartment without any tools, exposing a serious safety flaw in the old fleet.
A teenage boy was injured between St Peters and Redfern last Friday and was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital with multiple injuries.
One commuter, Lalita Stevenson, told 9News that she had witnessed the act during her peak-hour commute.
“I’ve actually seen some of them do it, it was a really loud bang … the train was full of people, I was amazed that they had the guts to do it,” Stevenson said.
“They were younger than 15, they were [aged about] 8, 9, 10, 11 … they thought it was pretty cool.
“He just barged it really hard and it opened … and all his little friends went in.”
Transport for NSW told 9News it was aware of this issue, but said there were not enough staff to monitor the cabins on every service.
It said it had bolstered the carriage doors to try to stop the trend, but it was also an emergency exit so could not be sealed off completely.
