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)