What is Subway surfing? All we know as 2 teenagers found dead atop a NYC J Train

New York City was jolted by gruesome news on October 4, 2025, when two teenage girls were found dead on a Brooklyn bound J train, the most recent fatalities tied to an especially dangerous social media stunt called subway surfing.

It has prompted city officials and transportation authorities to again issue urgent warnings about the deadly risks of such a reckless act.

“Subway surfing” means riding atop or clinging to the exterior of a moving train — frequently while filming videos for sharing on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. While it has been around for decades, it has spiked in recent years, fueled by viral challenges and online clout-seeking behavior.

According to NBC News, subway surfing has claimed 18 lives in New York City between 2023 and 2024, six of those deaths occurring in 2023 and 12 of them in 2024.

REPORT: "Subway surfing" is becoming a growing trend among teenagers who will "surf" and run on top of moving trains.

The trend is common in New York City where teens risk their lives just for some views online.

One Manhattan mother is suing Meta, TT and the MTA after her son… pic.twitter.com/ItBRrbnQAg

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 8, 2024

Three deaths had already occurred in 2025 before the tragedy this weekend. Authorities state that they used drones to patrol the tops of trains and intervened in at least 50 cases this year to stop surfers before tragedy struck.

Teenagers are frequently the victims of subway surfing. Many, like Zackery Nazario, 15, who died in 2023 after trying the stunt, had reportedly been inspired by videos on social media that made such a dangerous act look cool.

The practice, according to experts and law enforcement officials, partly appeals to thrill-seeking behavior along with the chase for online validation. The rush “feels like you’re in a real-life movie,” one former subway surfer told The New York Times.

However, the consequences are devastating. The victims run the risk of hitting beams, and landing on tracks or being electrocuted. Most deaths happen on aboveground lines, with trains moving at faster speeds in Brooklyn and Queens.

More about the death of two teenage girls caused by subway surfing

The girls, the New York Police Department said, were found on top of a subway car early Saturday morning. Officials did not immediately release the victims’ ages, but they said in a statement that both of them had been pronounced dead at the scene.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs the subway, called the deaths “heartbreaking” and preventable. Surfing trains “getting on top of a subway car isn’t ‘surfing’ — it’s suicide,” said NYC Transit president Demetrius Crichlow.

"It’s heartbreaking that two young girls are gone because they somehow thought riding outside a subway train was an acceptable game... I’m thinking of both the grieving families, and transit workers who discovered these children, all of whom have been horribly shaken by this tragedy," he addded.

NYPD were on scene at the train station on Marcy Ave & Broadway after 2 teens were killed by subway surfing, both of them were seen riding on top of the train before falling off. pic.twitter.com/A5U1PhNstZ

— WILLIAMSBURG NEWS (@WMSBG) October 5, 2025

New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently rolled out a “Ride Inside, Stay Alive” initiative to take on the disturbing increase in deaths, bringing in public figures such as pro BMX rider Nigel Sylvester to reach out to young people.

Even so, enforcement and education have lagged behind the fast-moving online culture that celebrates the act. In the wake of the most recent deaths, advocates and grieving families are pushing for stricter rules on social media platforms and more preventive measures within the transit system.