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Train surfing (also known as train hopping or train hitching) is the act of hitching a ride on the outside of a moving train, tram or another rail transport. In a number of countries, the term train hopping is often confused with the term freight hopping, which means riding on the outside of a freight train, while train surfing can be practiced on any type of a train. This type of travelling can be dangerous and even life-threatening, because there is a risk of death or serious injury from falling off a moving train, electrocution from power supply (overhead catenary wire, current collectors, resistors, etc.), colliding with a railway infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, platforms, traffic lights or other trains) while riding outside off structure gauge on the side or on the roof of a train, or unsuccessful attempts to jump on a moving train or off it. Today, the practice is forbidden by statutes on many railroads in the world. Despite this, it is still practiced, especially on those railroads where the trains are overcrowded. == History == The phenomenon of riding on outside trains came with the appearance of the first railway lines. On a series of first railroads, riding on rooftops and footboards of trains was common, but over time, starting from the second half of the 19th century, with an increase of trains in the sizes and speed, passenger coaches began to be produced fully covered and insulated from streets with a placement of all passenger seats inside carriages in order to improve the safety of passengers and prevent people falling from a moving train. However, some individuals practiced riding on outside of trains to travel without having a ticket. In the United States, this became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War as the railroads began pushing westward, especially among migrant workers who became known as "hobos". It continued to be widely used by those unable to afford other transportation, especially during times of widespread economic dislocation such as the Great Depression. In the first half of the 20th century during the era of trams rising in Europe and USA, trams in some cities became overcrowded, so some passengers began a practice of riding on footboards, doors, couplers and sometimes on the roofs of trams. Also, train surfing often occurred in European countries during the war conflicts, especially during the First World War, Russian Civil War and World War II. Soldiers and refugees often traveled on the roofs of carriages due to lack of seats inside. In the mid-20th century, European and American railroad companies in many countries took measures to reduce overcrowding in cars and prevent riding on outside of them, so the prevalence of train surfing in those countries decreased. However, in some countries of Southeast Asia and Africa with a high population density, the problem of overcrowding of different vehicles, including trains, grew rapidly, so train surfing in those countries became a widespread phenomenon. As an extreme hobby, train surfing firstly appeared in South Africa during the 1980s among teenagers from poor families, and then began to appear in other countries around the world. A story from Associated Press dated June 17, 1988, out of Rio de Janeiro reports how teenagers as young as 13 had taken up surfing atop train cars in Brazil. Reporter Jorge Mederos stated that some 150 train surfers were killed in Brazil in 1987; at least 40 in the first half of 1988. According to the article, hundreds more were injured, some permanently paralyzed. The report also states that the government company that runs the commuter lines had paid the equivalent of $700,000 in death and injury claims. During the 1990s, train surfing on a commuter electric multiple unit trains became popular in Europe among young people, who live near railway lines. In Germany, the practice of “S-Bahn surfing” was made popular during the 1990s. The phenomenon was forgotten until the millennium, but in 2005 it was rediscovered by a group of train surfers from Frankfurt, Germany. The leader of the crew who calls himself “the Trainrider” famously surfed the InterCityExpress, the fastest train in Germany. An Internet video claimed that he died a year later from an incurable form of leukemia, but later the Trainrider revealed in an interview 〔 (English subtitles)〕 that this video was made by a fan and the story of his death was a hoax. In 2008, forty teenagers died in Germany because of train surfing.〔("40 Jugendliche starben 2008 beim S-Bahn-Surfen" ), ''Stuttgarter Nachrichten'', 19 May 2010〕 In the Soviet Union during the 1980s, teens and youths sometimes surfed trams. After dissolution of the Soviet Union, the practice of surfing on electric multiple unit trains appeared during the 1990s in Russia and some other post-Soviet countries due to economic crisis and growing of interest for extreme recreational activities among teens and youths, who live near the railroads. At the beginning of 21st century, they also began to surf subway trains in Moscow Metro and organized train surfing crews and web-communities. In the mid-2000s, a problem of frequent cancellation of commuter trains and crowding inside rail cars appeared in the Moscow region. In summer 2010, dozens of commuter trains were cancelled due to track repairs on the Moscow railway, so the crowding of trains and number of train surfers in Moscow region has risen dramatically.It was the first time when a train surfing became a wide phenomenon in modern Russian Railways and it caused a big scandal.Train surfing was mostly a teenager hobby before this.After the railroad reconstruction the situation became stable and the cases of roof riding among the ordinary passengers were not appeared again. However the roof riding became more popular among the teenagers who began to create a communities of train surfers and posting videos on YouTube.Also train surfers began to organize meetings and big-way surfing events on outside of commuter, subway and local freight trains via Internet.Russian train surfing fans began to name themselfes as "Zatsepers"(from the Russian word "Зацепиться-Zatsepitsya" translated as "to catch on").The train surfing became a something like extreme sport discipline for them. Russian train surfers also name their popular hobby "Zatseping".From the beginning of 2011, Russian train surfers made a several rides on outside of a high-speed Siemens Velaro train "Sapsan", the fastest train in Russia. In 2011, over 100 people were killed or seriously injured in Russia because of train surfing or climbing on roofs of standing trains too close to overhead catenary wires; a few dozen children train surfers were killed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「train surfing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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