Fighting the deadly fashion for New York train surfing

Jaida Rivera's 11-year-old son, Cayden, was supposed to be at Brooklyn's Fort Greene preparatory academy on the morning of 16 September last year. Staff spotted him in the cafeteria after his grandmother dropped him off at 7.45am.

- By Edward Helmore NEW YORK

But 30 minutes later he was marked absent. Cayden had slipped out, boarded a G subway train and was riding on top of its carriages when he fell on to the tracks at Fourth Avenue/Ninth Street station just after 10am. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cayden was the youngest of six people who died subway surfing in New York City last year. The highly dangerous practice of balancing on top of fast-moving subway trains is most often attempted where trains run above ground and in warmer months during the school term. For young people, it can bring serious social media kudos.

New York authorities have long warned against the stunts, but to little avail. Police data shows that arrests for subway surfing are up 70% year on year, and the average age of those apprehended was 14. So far this year, 164 children have been caught surfing, up from 112 in the same period in 2024.

Earlier this month, a 14-year-old was critically injured falling from a 5 line train in the Bronx. The 7 line, between Manhattan and Queens, is the most popular, according to the New York police department's transit chief, Joseph Gulotta, in part because surfing on the 7 mimics the closing frames of the 2017 movie Spider-Man: Homecoming. Other blockbusters with train roof chases to inspire copycats include the 2012 James Bond film, Skyfall.