Men filmed clinging to back of high speed train in New Zealand

UPPER HUTT, New Zealand, March 9 (UPI) -- Police in New Zealand said they are working to identify two men caught on camera clinging to the back of a speeding commuter train.

The video, taken by Alexey Zhavoronkov, shows the two men clinging to the back of the moving train outside the Manor Park station in Upper Hutt, near Wellington.

"My wife, who was driving, saw them and said 'look at them, they're crazy,'" Zhavoronkov told Stuff.co.nz. "We're originally from Russia and this kind of madness is more like normal there ... it was a shock to see people here doing it. It's really dangerous ... it was scary."

Zhavoronkov said the train appeared to be going up to 55 mph when he spotted the men.

Wayne Butson, general secretary of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, said the men risked falling or electrocution.

"If anything goes wrong then invariably it's [staff] who literally have to go back and look at the pieces that are left," he said. "People who take up careers driving trains do it because they like driving trains, not to sit as a powerless spectator in the demise of another human being."

KiwiRail officials said they are working together with police to identify the men in the video.

"Trespassing on the rail corridor is a huge problem and people who do this, whether it's being on the rail corridor or riding on the back of a train, run the risk of not only killing themselves but also traumatizing the people who then have to deal with the consequences of their actions," Metro general manager David Shepherd said. "We will be doing everything we can to help police identify these two young men and strongly urge anybody considering trespassing on the rail corridor to think about the value of their life and how their families will feel if they are killed or injured."