Indonesia concrete balls combat 'train surfing'

[John Ashworth]

BBC 17 January 2012 Last updated at 13:18 GMT

Indonesia concrete balls combat 'train surfing'

Railway staff in Indonesia have started hanging concrete balls above train tracks in a bid to prevent commuters from riding on carriage roofs.

The first balls were installed just above carriage-height near a station outside the capital, Jakarta.

More will be put up elsewhere if they are a success.

Previous attempts to deter roof riders included spraying them with paint, spreading oil on carriages and hiring musicians to perform safety songs.

Correspondents say those initiatives have failed. Officials hope that the latest move will prove to be the ultimate deterrent.

Roof riders also face the possibility of imprisonment.

Electrocuted

The balls - which can deliver a severe blow to the head - will be suspended a few inches above the tops of carriages at points where trains enter or pull out of stations, or where they go through crossings.

Officials told the BBC that "roof surfing" can be extremely dangerous. In 2008 at least 53 passengers died in an accident after boarding a train roof. In 2011, 11 people were killed.

Most victims are electrocuted by overhead power cables, but some fall off train carriages while trains are moving.

The BBC's Dewi Safitri in Jakarta says that passengers on train rooftops can be seen every morning and dusk. At peak times about 400,000 commuters cram in or on carriages to travel into and out of the centre of Jakarta.

While tickets are cheap by western standards, poorer people struggle to pay which is why they go on the roofs.

Officials say that they have tried everything to stop the problem - and even put rolls of barbed wire on train roofs - but nothing has worked.

Officials say that if the latest initiative is successful, the project will be expanded.

But the "roof surfers" themselves told the AP news agency that they are determined not to be put off.

"I was really scared when I first heard about these balls,'' said Mulyanto, 27, who rides daily between his hometown of Bogor and Jakarta almost every day for work.

"It sounds like it could be really dangerous. But I don't think it will last long. They have tried everything to keep us from riding... but in the end we always win.''

Trains criss-cross Indonesia - but often on poorly maintained tracks left behind by Dutch colonizers 60 years ago.

Critics say that the problem of "roof surfing" will never be completely ironed out until there are fewer delays and enough trains to meet demand.

[Gabor Kovacs]

A similar article from the "Mail Online"

Duck! Indonesia suspends grapefruit-sized concrete balls above railway lines to stop 'roof riders'
By WIL LONGBOTTOM
Last updated at 4:52 PM on 17th January 2012


Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try and stop commuters from illegally riding on the roofs of train - from hosing them down with red paint to threatening them with dogs.
But now authorities have developed an intimidating and possibly deadly new tactic - suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls to rake over the top of trains.
They hope the balls - which would deliver serious blows to the head if they didn't knock a person off the roof of a train - will be enough to deter 'train surfers'.

Mateta Rizahulhaq, a spokesman for the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api, said: 'We've tried just about everything, even putting rolls of barbed wire on the roof, but nothing seems to work.
'Maybe this will do it.'
Trains that crisscross Indonesia on poorly maintained tracks left behind by Dutch coloniser six decades ago are usually packed with passengers, especially during rush hour.
The first of the concrete balls have been installed above carriage height near a station outside the capital, Jakarta.

ther attempts to deter commuters include spreading oil on the roofs and hiring musicians to perform safety songs.
In 2008, at least 53 passengers died in accidents after boarding train roofs, according to the BBC.
Most victims were electrocuted by overhead power cable, but some fall off as they trains are moving.
At peak times, 400,000 commuters cram into, or on, train carriages into the capital.
Mulyanto, 27, who rides between his hometown of Bogor and Jakarta for work, said: 'I was really scared when I first heard about these ball.
'It sounds like it could be really dangerous. But I don't think it will last long. They have tried everything to keep us from riding... but in the end we always win.'
Poorer people often end up on train roofs because they are unable to afford tickets.