‘Buffer riding’ teenagers on Sydney trains open up about why they indulge in the risky behaviour

Teenagers are risking their lives in a dangerous new fad that involves riding on the outside of speeding train carriages and filming themselves for social media. 

Transport authorities are cracking down on so-called ‘buffer riding’ that sees those who do it – almost always young men – precariously dangle off the outside of trains going in excess of 100km/h. 

Since 2021 there has been a 13 per cent rise in reported incidents of buffer riding and in the last 12 months alone two people have died after being hit by oncoming trains, Sydney Trains said. 

Shocking footage shows the youngsters leaping onto the back of trains as they pull away from the station or swinging out of open carriage doors and clambering onto the roof of the moving vehicles.

‘I use it as a form of therapy from things going on at home,’ one young buffer rider told 7News on Monday. 

‘I had a TikTok of me doing it with a million views,’ another said. 

Transport bosses are cracking down on the risky behavior (pictured)

A teenager crouches perched on a railing as a train pulls away from the station 

Some of those in the group of friends have been buffer riding from as young 12-years-old, often breaking into train driver cabins or inaccessible parts of the track network.

‘I’ve jumped off a moving train into the water at Tempe,’ another of the group said.

Fines for trespassing on rail corridors vary from a few hundreds dollars in most parts of Australia to a few thousand dollars in metropolitan networks.

Someone trespassing – being outside a train carriage on rail tracks – in the Sydney Trains network can be slapped with a $5,500 penalty. 

But for minors in almost all cases they walk away with nothing more than caution.

‘The penalties are quite and it will likely take somebody else to get hurt before they change this behavior,’ Sydney Train head of security Jessica Sharpe said.

One of the boys said they had been caught a few times and it hadn’t discouraged them but another of the group admitted if one of his friends was hurt he would ‘probably think twice’. 

The same teen then tries to make his way to the roof of the carriage 

Another teenager jumps onto the back of a train in nothing more than shorts 

Matt Longland, Sydney Trains Chief Executive, said CCTV was being used to identify offenders and NSW Police are being brought in to help.

‘We want to warn them that this is an extremely dangerous and stupid thing to do; all it takes is one misstep and your life could be over,’ Longland said.

‘One mistake could destroy not only your own life, but also cause untold heartache and grief to your family and friends as well.

‘All too often we see lives lost by people trespassing in the live rail corridor.

‘It only takes a train accelerating or braking quickly, or for it to move close to infrastructure for someone to be knocked onto the tracks.

‘If the fall itself doesn’t kill you, the next train coming along probably will.’

NSW Police’s North Central Police Transport Commander, Superintendent Cath Bradbury, said there was a real risk somebody could get seriously hurt.

‘The Police Transport Command works closely with our transport partners to use the necessary resources, including CCTV, to detect, identify, and target offenders,’ Bradbury said.

‘We also urge commuters to report ‘buffer riding’ and other anti-social or criminal behaviours to Crime Stoppers.’