Indonesian train roof riders to face gauntlet of putrid goo-soaked brooms

Indonesia has come up with another bizarre plan to keep commuters from riding on the roofs of trains: swatting them with brooms drenched in putrid goo. "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. Indonesia has tried just about everything to stop passengers clambering on to the roofs of trains that crisscross its main island of Java, from spraying the climbers with paint guns, calling in sniffer dogs and asking for help from Muslim clerics.

But it wasn't until last month that one of their tactics actually worked. In a few places along the track, grapefruit-sized concrete balls were suspended on chains from a frame that looks like a football goal. Realising they could be knocked in the head, or even killed, the so-called rail surfers quickly called it quits.



Buoyed by this success, railway officials decided to try the brooms as well. They were to start setting them up around midnight on Monday along the line linking the capital, Jakarta, and the western Javanese town of Bogor. Sujadi said he was unaffected by criticism of 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 of people have clambered up on to the roofs of trains in the past because they want to escape overcrowded carriages or can't afford the price of a ticket, or simply because it is more fun than being inside. But dozens are killed or injured each year, falling off the trains or being electrocuted by the power lines above.