KAI tightens security to prevent vandalism

KAI tightens security to prevent vandalism

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia
(KAI) said on Friday it was tightening its security system across
Java to prevent rampant vandalism on trains traveling between
East Java and Jakarta.

"We have deployed some 1,556 of our personnel to guard several
locations prone to vandalism, as we do not want such actions to
disturb our transportation system," Suhartono, spokesman for PT
KAI in the West Java city of Cirebon told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday.

According to Suhartono, some 1,366 of the total 1,566 security
guards are employees of PT KAI, while the remaining 200 were
recruited from other agencies.

These personnel will be deployed at 34 railway stations at
certain locations across West Java, he added.

Suhartono said locations prone to vandalism were the railroads
from Cikampek station in Karawang regency to the Haurgeulis and
Kertasemaya stations in Indramayu regency.

According to PT KAI, acts of vandalism took place during the
fasting month of Ramadhan, injuring a number of train passengers.

The latest incident took place on Dec. 10, in which Sariah, a
55-year old resident of Babakan village in Cirebon was seriously
wounded, when unidentified people hurled stones at a train in
Indramayu. The Tegalarum train was traveling from Jakarta to
Tegal, Central Java.

She sustained serious injuries to her face and hands and is
receiving medical treatment at Cirebon Gunung Jati General
hospital.

A similar incident occurred last month when a Senja Utama Solo
train and a Tasaka executive class train were traveling through
Indramayu from Yogyakarta.

"The vandals destroyed route signals which may have caused a
collision. It was lucky that we were able to deal with it,"
Suhartono said.

"Efforts to tighten security are also aimed at anticipating
the peak of the influx of people returning from their hometowns
in Java to Jakarta after celebrating Idul Fitri," he said.

The country's busiest period for post-Idul Fitri travel is
expected to reach its peak on Saturday and Sunday.

Suhartono, nevertheless, brushed aside speculation that the
vandals had intended to ruin PT KAI's performance, but underlined
that "the police should carry out a thorough investigation to
determine if there were certain motives behind the actions".

Separately, Iskandar Abubakar, director general of land
transportation at the Ministry of Transportation, asserted that
the government needed to raise the state budget for railway
transportation by up to 300 percent from the current Rp 60
billion.

According to Abubakar, the larger budget would be allocated to
develop railroad infrastructure in a attempt to curb the number
of train accidents.

"In many collisions, including the recent accident of the
Dwipangga express that killed six people while traveling from
Surakarta to Jakarta, it is not merely the fault of the train
engineer himself, but also due to the poor infrastructure,"
Abubakar said.

Abubakar further cited certain modern countries that allocate
a huge budget to develop the road and railway facilities.

Fatal train accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, where
officials frequently blame signal failures.