Shocking footage of a Philadelphia man clinging to the back of a moving train has triggered a SEPTA investigation. The dangerous stunt unfolded as an L train traveled between the city’s 40th Street and 46th Street stations, as reported by The New York Post.

The passenger wore a Hawaiian shirt and had one earphone in as he crouched outside the train.

Video showed him swaying while gripping the back of the moving car, apparently treating the transit system like his personal amusement ride.

Stunned passengers recorded the spectacle from inside the train car.

They later uploaded the footage to social media and chose the “Spider-Man” theme tune to accompany the bizarre display, according to NBC10.

The recording was shared online Tuesday, though officials have not determined publicly which day the incident actually occurred.

Its caption offered a brief assessment that captured the disbelief surrounding the scene: “Only in Philly.”

 

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Passengers were astonished that someone would ride on the outside of a train and risk his life in such a reckless fashion.

Their reactions ranged from blunt disbelief to warnings about how quickly the stunt could have turned deadly.

“Never seen nothing like that, that’s madness,” Edquardo Chinnell, a passenger from Germantown, told WPVI.

Chinnell’s reaction reflected the shock of riders watching someone willingly place himself in such an obviously dangerous position.

Cody Langley focused on the potentially fatal consequences of the stunt. “You are dancing on a thin line of life and death, because anything could happen,” Langley said.

The man’s conduct is now at the center of an investigation by SEPTA. Officials are trying to determine who he is after the footage spread online and drew attention to the hazardous ride.

SEPTA police Captain Marc Pasquarella said he could not understand why anyone would attempt something so dangerous.

“I don’t understand what makes people want to do something this dangerous,” Pasquarella said.

He also delivered an unvarnished assessment of the risks involved. “It’s insane. It’s extremely dangerous. Obviously, falling off the train, seriously injured or killed.”

Pasquarella fears that the viral footage could inspire copycats to attempt similarly reckless behavior.

The video’s online reach has therefore added another concern for officials already investigating the man shown hanging onto the train.

Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesperson, said no injuries were reported in connection with the incident.

Officials have not established publicly when the ride happened, leaving investigators to work from the widely circulated video while seeking the man’s identity.

Authorities have repeatedly warned that subway surfing can result in serious injury or death.

Riders outside train cars face dangers from the trains themselves, surrounding structures, electrified tracks, unstable surfaces, and the speeds at which the vehicles travel.

A separate subway surfing episode in July involved a girl who was 16. She struck a beam and survived while riding on top of a subway train in Queens during another dangerous stunt.

The teenager was atop a southbound A train as it pulled into the Broad Channel station.

During the afternoon ride, she suddenly slammed into an overhead beam, law enforcement sources told the Post at the time.

Two months earlier, a boy who was 14 died while riding on top of a subway on the Williamsburg Bridge.

That case illustrated the deadly consequences authorities warn about when people climb onto the exterior of moving trains.

Electrocution is another danger because some train tracks are electrified.

Meanwhile, surfaces outside trains can be slippery or unstable, and high travel speeds increase the risk that subway surfers will suffer severe injuries or death.

For SEPTA investigators, the immediate task is identifying the Hawaiian shirt wearing passenger in the viral clip.

Although the Philadelphia stunt produced no reported injuries, the footage captured a rider gambling with the narrow margin between a foolish thrill and a fatal outcome.

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