Check Right and Left Before Crossing Level Crossings: Safety Starts with Discipline

By 23 May 2026, KAI has closed 94 of 172 high-priority level crossings with high risk, narrow roads, and increasing vehicle traffic. Public mobility has increased at the start of the week, with work commutes, school drop-offs, logistics distribution, and intercity travel causing traffic congestion in various areas, including around railway level crossings. PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) urges the public to pause briefly, check right and left, ensure the track is clear, and give way to trains when crossing level crossings. Vice President of Corporate Communications at KAI, Anne Purba, stated that safety at level crossings heavily depends on road users’ discipline. Many accidents occur because drivers rush, run red lights, or fail to check the track before crossing. ‘A few seconds to stop and check the track can safeguard many lives. We urge the public to be more disciplined when crossing level crossings, especially during busy morning and evening rush hours,’ she said. There are 3,674 level crossings in Indonesia, with 1,810 prioritised for improvement. Priorities are set based on on-site risk levels, including vehicle traffic volume, road width, proximity to residential areas and community activity hubs, and geometric conditions affecting safety for both trains and road users. Of these, 172 are targeted for closure due to limited road conditions and high risk, while the remaining 1,638 require phased safety upgrades, including staffing level crossings, installing warning systems, and enhancing safety measures. By 23 May 2026, KAI and stakeholders have closed 94 level crossings, around 55% of the initial target. Some regions have achieved 100% progress, including North Sumatra Regional Division I, Palembang Regional Division III, Operational Region 2 Bandung, Operational Region 3 Cirebon, Operational Region 6 Yogyakarta, Operational Region 7 Madiun, and Operational Region 8 Surabaya. Meanwhile, KAI continues to enhance safety at active level crossings with high vehicle traffic. Field inventories show these sites are in areas experiencing growing residential and economic activity. For example, in South Sumatra and Lampung, the Sukamerindu-Tanjung Rambang crossing has a 13-metre-wide road, and the Air Asam-Sukamerindu crossing is 12 metres wide, both used daily by logistics vehicles and public mobility. In Central Java, West Java, and the North Coast (Pantura) region, several crossings are on agricultural distribution routes, access to traditional markets, small industrial zones, and commuter routes with heavy traffic from morning to night. According to Anne, these conditions make safety improvements at level crossings increasingly urgent. Alongside reorganising and closing high-risk sites, KAI is accelerating flyover and underpass construction in high-traffic areas. ‘Public mobility continues to grow annually. Therefore, level crossing management must accelerate to ensure safety for both railway and road users,’ she said. Technically, trains require a safe stopping distance. At 120 km/h, ideal braking distance ranges from 800 to 1,200 metres. Thus, ensuring the track is clear before a train passes is critical for safety. Alongside infrastructure upgrades, KAI is speeding up the deployment of level crossing guards. Over 4,914 guards are needed to secure the 1,638 priority sites, with recruitment, training, and certification being conducted in phases with local governments and the Directorate General of Railways (DJKA). ‘Railway safety requires consistent on-ground management. The faster high-risk sites are surveyed, managed, and safeguarded collectively, the greater the safety margin for the public,’ she concluded.