Manila 'trolley boys' use handmade carts to ferry commuters on illegal railway

Meet the Manila trolley boys running their own illegal railway - ferrying commuters on handmade carts while risking being crushed to death by oncoming trains.

The video above shows the men hauling their rickety wooden carriages - complete with sun parasols - onto the tracks in the capital of the Philippines, where they somehow manage to avoid the dozens of locomotives that thunder past each day.

Passengers pay them 10 peso (15p) per trip, grateful for a way to avoid heavy congestion on the city's roads and dodge higher ticket prices on the actual train system.

For their part, the trolley boys cleverly memorise train schedules in order to avoid fatal collisions.

The illegal railway has been dubbed 'the world's most dangerous commute' but demand from commuters - including office workers and teachers - is soaring.

Miraculously, there has never been an accident between the trains and the pushcarts, which the men propel forward like a skateboard.