Thousands stranded after attempted cable theft

Thousands stranded after attempted cable theft

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of rail commuters were left stranded
for hours on Monday after a man cut the feeder cables of a train
traveling on the Bojong Gede-Citayam line, at Pabuaran village,
Citayam, Bogor.

The man had intended to steal the feeder cables, but he had no
idea they formed part of the distribution system which provided
the electricity without which the train couldn't run, state
railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) spokesman Zainal
Abidin told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"When he cut the cables at about 3 a.m. on Monday, sparks shot
out from the ends and he probably got scared. Then he saw
security guards rushing towards him. So, he took off. He just
left a pair of gloves behind."

Zainal said that about 20 centimeters of the cables had been
cut, and it took railroad workers from 4 a.m. until 3 p.m. on
Monday to replace them.

Normally, trains pass along both tracks at the scene of the
attempted robbery, with one track being devoted to trains heading
from Bogor to Jakarta and the other one to trains from Jakarta to
Bogor. Because of the attempted theft, the railway company could
make use of only one track between Depok and Bojong Gede, Zainal
said.

"Due to this, hundreds of trains were delayed. Thousands were
left stranded," he added. (ylt)