PT KAI to use concrete balls to scare passengers off train roofs

PT KAI to use concrete balls to scare passengers off train roofs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 01/17/2012 5:35 PM


Watch your head!: Workers install a frame with concrete balls suspended on it above railway tracks in Bekasi, Greater Jakarta, on Tuesday. Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from riding the roofs of trains by suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls above railway lines a few centimeters above the tops of carriages at points where trains enter or pull out of stations, or where they go through crossings. (AP/Achmad Ibrahim)In a heightened effort to ward passengers off riding on train roofs, state railway firm PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) says it will install barricades in the form of hanging concrete balls that will knock off anyone sitting on top of an accelerating train.

“We moved the equipment from its factory in Cipinang Muara at 9 a.m. We plan to have it installed by 11.15 a.m.,” PT KAI operation area 1 order manager Akhmad Suyadi said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

The device, called the Goal Bola-bola (Goal Balls), consists of concrete balls that are hung on a goal-like frame installed at certain points on the railway. The balls, which will be hung to the height of the train, will serve as an obstruction against anything that happens to be on top of the train.

The Goal Bola-bola is the railway firm’s latest initiative after its previous move of carrying out raids on rooftop passengers proved ineffective.

Akhmad said that the concrete balls would only be put up in the railway between Bekasi and Tambun, West Java.

“We are unable to install them on the Bogor-Jakarta track because there are electricity cables on top [of the train],” he said.

He said that the move was intended to provide safety and comfort to passengers and not to cause harm. (awd)

Concrete balls don’t deter ‘naughty passengers’, says station

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 01/20/2012 9:17 PM


The “concrete balls innovation” used to scare passengers from sitting on train roofs had not yet proven to be fully effective, as many people were still seen riding on top of trains, Bekasi Station officials said Friday.

“There are still a lot of disobedient passengers,” deputy chief Dwi Effendi said, as quoted by tempo.co.

According to an evaluation conducted by the station, Dwi said that passengers continued to climb onto the train rooftops via its windows after the train had gone past the device which resembled a large pendulum.

Station chief Eman Sulaeman said that state railway firm PT KAI should install additional pendulums to supplement the three existing ones in order for the effort to become more effective.

“If the distances between the pendulums are short, passengers would probably be afraid of riding on the roof,” he said.

PT KAI planned to install three pendulums, which would all be located along the Jakarta-Cikampek track. One pendulum had already been put up at KM 27 of the Bekasi Station. The other two will be installed between the Tambun-Cikarang and Cikarang-Lemahabang stations.

The device, called the Goal Bola-bola (Goal Balls), consists of concrete balls that are hung on a goal-like frame installed at certain points on the railway. The balls, which will be hung to the height of the train, will serve as an obstruction against anything occurring sitting on top of the trains. (awd)

Indonesia to hit train roof riders with nasty goop

Ali Kotarumaos, Associated Press, Jakarta | Mon, 02/06/2012 8:15 PM


Indonesia has another bizarre way to keep commuters off the roofs of trains: swat them with brooms drenched in putrid goop.

"For anyone who is still up there, it'll be like a whip," said Ahmad Sujadi, of the state-run railway, PT Kereta Api Indonesia. The contraptions will be installed at select crossings this week.

Indonesia has tried just about everything to keep passengers from clamoring atop trains that crisscross its main island of Java: spraying them with paint guns, calling in sniffer dogs, and asking for help from Muslim clerics.

The first tactic that worked was deployed last month.

Grapefruit-sized concrete balls were suspended on chains from a frame that looks like a soccer goal. "Rail surfers," realizing they could be knocked in the head or even killed, quickly called it quits.

The concrete balls can only be suspended over non-electric tracks, but no rail-surfing deaths have occurred where they are in place.

Buoyed by that success, railway officials decided to try the brooms as well.

They'll be set up along the line linking the capital, Jakarta, and the West Java town of Bogor.

Sujadi, who didn't disclose the ingredients of the smelly goop, said he was unaffected by criticism for all the strange and strict security measures.

"Some people say its inhumane, but that's fine," he said. "Because letting them ride on the roofs is even more inhumane."

Hundreds have clamored to the roofs in the past because they want to escape overcrowded carriages, can't afford the price of a ticket, or, simply, for fun.

But dozens are killed or injured every year, falling off the train or being electrocuted by the power lines above. (nvn)