Train Surfing Soweto
© Edward van Herk
When young South Africans in the ghetto neighborhoods of Soweto talk about surfing, they aren’t interested in going to the beach and riding the waves on a board. In Soweto, the latest craze among thrill-seeking young men is train surfing, in which they climb on top of moving commuter trains and duck the overpasses and power lines while maintaining a cocky stance, or hang from the sides of trains while swaying back and forth; a particularly brave handful even climb under the trains and cling to their undercarriage while in motion. While some young men surf trains to avoid capture after stealing valuables from passengers, most do it for the sheer thrill, emboldened by alcohol or marijuana and eager to impress girls. While train surfing may be popular, it’s also illegal and extremely dangerous, and when security officers working on Soweto’s commuter lines went on strike for a week, three teenagers died in train surfing incidents.
