Teens warned against jumping from trains

File photo / Hawkes Bay Today

Teenage thrillseekers are risking their lives by jumping from moving trains in the Bay of Plenty say KiwiRail.

Witnesses have reported seeing young people jumping off freight trains on Tauranga's Chapel St rail bridge into the water below the Bay of Plenty Times reported.

The teens openly admit what they are doing saying they get an addictive thrill from it.

"You just want to do it again and again. I would have done a backflip if I knew how to do one," one 19-year-old man said.

KiwiRail spokesman David Gordon said it was disappointing to hear about what the teenagers were doing.

"This is very dangerous. Firstly they shouldn't be on the rail bridge. It is illegal and they could get hit by a moving train," Mr Gordon said.

"We regularly warn the public to stay off the rail corridor. While the maximum fine for illegally trespassing on the rail corridor is $10,000, the maximum penalty is death."

- NZPA