In the race for “likes” on social networks, young people climb on trains and put their lives in danger. In German-speaking Switzerland, four deaths have been recorded since the start of the year. Two former train surfers tell SRF why they stopped.
Last summer, at the age of 17, Noah (not his real name) narrowly escaped death, as part of a practice that had until then provided him with adrenaline and a feeling of freedom: “train surfing”. He gets on a train still in the station and touches a live element with his leg. The current flows through his body to the ground. “It was the worst pain of my life,” he told SRF.
I felt like my bones were burning from the inside, like my blood was boiling in my leg
The discharge threw him off the roof and he landed on the ballast. Adrenaline and pain mix in his body. “I felt like my bones were burning from the inside, like my blood was boiling in my leg.” He manages to reach the dock and calls for help. Then everything becomes blurry. Taken into care, he will spend two days in the hospital. “I no longer felt like a human being.”
Testify to avoid new tragedies
For Noah, this painful episode marked the end of his “train surfing” period. He had to answer for his actions before the juvenile justice system. A “lesser evil”, according to him. “It could have happened on a train traveling at 200 km/h. I wouldn’t be here anymore.” Today, he struggles to understand how he could have taken such risks; At the time, he even dreamed of one day riding a TGV, he says.
It’s a danger that we don’t hear, that we don’t see and that we don’t feel.
Noah filmed the accident with an on-board camera. SRF decided to broadcast the video. The cry that the young man lets out at the moment when the electric arc strikes him is chilling. “Others have to see these images. It’s the raw reality. Otherwise, they won’t stop,” insists Beni (not his real name). This former fan of “train surfing” also decided to testify to prevent further tragedies.
![Former fans of "train surfing", Noah and Beni agreed to testify anonymously to avoid further drama. [SRF]](https://img.rts.ch/info/suisse/2026/image/1ea29h-29195044.image?mw=1280 "Former fans of \"train surfing\", Noah and Beni agreed to testify anonymously to avoid further drama. [SRF]")
Brûlures sévères, amputations ou décès
Bruno Gugelmann, head of the Olten site of the SBB intervention service, confirms the dangerousness of this practice. “It’s a danger that we don’t hear, that we don’t see and that we don’t feel,” he emphasizes. Since it is impossible to determine precisely at what distance a high-voltage line becomes dangerous, he recommends always keeping at least two meters away.
The current can pass through the body at a distance, with extremely serious consequences: severe burns, amputations or death. At the beginning of February, a teenager experienced this in Aargau. Getting on a train with a friend at Lenzburg station, he got too close to live parts and was electrocuted. The fatal discharge threw him to the ground near Beinwil am See.
For Bruno Gugelmann, these accidents are traumatic for loved ones, but also for those involved. After such accidents, SBB intervention teams, train drivers and emergency services are mobilized. “To experience such a situation on site, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” he said. And the manager insistently warns: “You are playing with your life. And life is not a game.”
Putting your life in danger for likes
The young man who died in Aargau was active in the small circle of “train surfers” and was in contact with Beni and Noah. They were deeply marked by this new tragedy. “I feel partly responsible,” says Noah. The young man dares the comparison: “If I sell a weapon to someone and he kills with it, I also have some responsibility.”
This feeling of guilt doesn’t come out of nowhere. Like many fans, Beni and Noah published their “exploits” online, videos likely to encourage other young people to imitate them. A recent study from the University Hospital of Zurich (“Burned for the likes“, literally “Burned for likes”) shows that social networks tend to glorify these risky behaviors and encourage their imitation.
Over time, the two young people became aware of the dangerousness of their actions. They first made their account private, then eventually deleted it. Today, they are calling on other members of the scene to do the same. If they are now warning so insistently, it is because Noah’s accident and the other tragedies are leaving their mark. The two young men understood that life can change quickly.
>> Read also: Train surfing: the deadly dangers of a viral phenomenon among young people
Linus van Moorsel et Amila Redžić, SRF
Adaptation for RTSinfo: Didier Kottelat
