JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from illegally riding the roofs of trains — hosing down the scofflaws with red paint, threatening them with dogs and appealing for help from religious leaders.
Now the authorities have an intimidating and possibly even deadly new tactic: Suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls to rake over the top of trains as they pull out of stations, or when they go through rail crossings.
Authorities hope the balls — which could deliver serious blows to the head — will be enough to deter defiant roof riders.
"We've tried just about everything, even putting rolls of barbed wire on the roof, but nothing seems to work," said Mateta Rizahulhaq, a spokesman for the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api. "Maybe this will do it."
Trains that crisscross Indonesia on poorly maintained tracks left behind by Dutch colonizers six decades ago usually are packed with passengers, especially during the rush hour.
Hundreds seeking to escape the overcrowded carriages clamour to the top. Some ride high to avoid paying for a ticket. Others do so because — despite the dangers, with dozens killed or injured every year — "rail surfing" is fun.
The first dozen or so balls were installed Tuesday hundreds of yards (meters) from the entrance of a train station just outside the capital, Jakarta. Painted silver, the balls hung by chains from what looked like the frame of a giant soccer goal.
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4 comments:
When people will hang off the side of the train to ride somewhere (and I really hope they are not paying a fare for that), I am not surprised that their previous methods did not work. This new one seems to be a little more draconian than the rest. Wouldn't it be better if they used the money to buy another train or more cars than to put up concrete balls?
Why don't they fix the tracks, for that matter? It sounds like there's no lack of manpower.
I saw that in t.o.night yesterday, just knew you would put it up here. Isn't that just crazy? I like the methods on how they try to deal with the problem though!
Concrete Balls? Well at least they aren't doing anything extreme like putting rolls of barbed wire on the roof!
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