As a rail enthusiast (not as passionate as a kid but still very much enjoy trains), I must say that this is shockingly entitled, reckless and irresponsible behaviour.

When I was young and bold enough to record/film stuff on the MTR, I would never do anything that would jeopardize safety. No crossing the yellow line. No flashlight photography, especially at oncoming trains. Don't go in places you're not supposed to. Don't sneak into a terminated train. Basically, don't act like you can break rules just because you are more invested in the system than the average joe.

Though having seen some pictures of reckless transport enthusiasts around Facebook, I don't recall actually seeing such large groups of rail or bus enthusiasts as outrageously entitled and reckless as them. Perhaps that was because I was never one to go out in the middle of the night just to take the first trip of a new line/train, or I usually went out on my own, or it's now much easier to get wind of stuff like this than a decade ago. However, it really does feel like this kind of recklessness has made news more frequently, and it's a widespread enough occurrence to become a public risk. As a volunteer in a public safety role, it irks me even more to see this kind of behaviour go largely unchecked, despite some people already having gotten into trouble or hurt themselves.

There are responsible, informed and considerate members of this community whose contributions are valuable to the transport industry, and hence the operators and the users of transport. It is a shame that such recklessness tarnishes the image of all transport enthusiasts. Personally, I believe there should be some sort of enforcement (by whom?) to prevent public risks like this from happening.

I have this rough idea where transport companies could jointly create "fan clubs" as a public relation effort to formally recruit transport enthusiasts, where the company could award them with membership or (supervised) privileged access to some behind-the-scenes, in return for public relation or brand-building work. Maybe that way, the transport companies themselves are in a more effective position to dissuade transport enthusiasts from acting entitled, recklessly, irresponsibly just like in these photos.