Video of kids playing chicken with train on Ngāruawāhia bridge highlights ongoing problem

By RNZ

People playing chicken with trains continues to plague the Waikato town of Ngāruawāhia.

A new video on social media shows seven children jumping from the rail bridge into the Waikato River just as a train engine barrels past them with its horn blaring.

There are more trains now than ever before, but young people continue to dice with death - despite two children dying after being struck by trains on the bridge, in 2002 and 2018.

Ngāruawāhia Community Board chairperson Kiri Morgan told RNZ’s Checkpoint the video was real and was taken in the past six months.

During summer it was a daily occurrence to hear train horns sounding in response to people on the bridge, she said.

“I think people need to be aware that ... it’s not okay. Those kids are putting their lives in danger.”

Morgan was afraid there would be more deaths if children continued to jump there, and the disruption also created chaos for train services.

“I think the train drivers have done everything they can to keep the area safe.”

There were projects in play to try to reduce the danger, but they faced barriers, she said.

The community board was seeking backing for a separate footpath to be built onto the bridge with a platform for jumping into the river, separating the jumpers from the train tracks: “We’re trying to get it moving”.

However, so far, the local and national agencies needed to back it had been shy of taking on any liability for such a project, she said.

People playing chicken with trains continues to plague the Waikato town of Ngāruawāhia. Photo / Instagram

And there could be challenges in enusring a platform was successfully adopted by locals instead of them sticking with the dangerous alternative, she said.

An education programme run by police, the regional council and KiwiRail had been delivered through all of the local schools. It gave children the chance to meet train drivers and police officers in person to help them understand the consequences of deaths on the bridge, and how many people in the community they affected.

The education programme had come to a halt during Covid, but Morgan hoped it would be revived in time to be run next year.

“Education is a large must. We can’t really get the older generations to change their minds, but we can start with the next generation coming through.”

Casualties at the bridge

In 2002, 9-year-old Jayden Nerihana Tepu died after being hit by a train on the Ngāruawāhia rail bridge.

In 2009, a KiwiRail spokesperson told RNZ that children playing chicken at the bridge had long been a problem as the activity was considered a rite of passage locally. An engineer was assaulted after trying to stop a group of children playing chicken there.

In 2018, 11-year-old Moareen Rameka tried to run out of a train’s path while playing with a friend, but died after she was hit.