Many people in the United States are familiar with train-hopping. In this country it’s the stuff of lore. People (some of which are no doubt modern hobos) ride trains illegally to get between places, or to seek adventure. In other parts of the world though, it’s more of a way to survive. In places like India, or Indonesia, people who cannot afford to ride inside are riding on top of trains to the extent that it has become a familiar sight. Unfortunately, the practice is far more dangerous than it looks. The BBC is reporting that hundreds of people are killed every year around Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia due to falling. It’s for this reason, they say, that the government has begun installing large concrete balls suspended from above that swing on metal chains in hopes of either deterring riders, or knocking from their perches.
Train surfing as it’s known in Indonesia, has become a way of life for many who cannot afford to pay the fare. Living too far to walk, it’s their only option for getting back and forth to work. But the government has had enough of it. Too many of the illegal riders fall from the trains onto the electrical wires that power the trains and get killed. Too many fall as trains turn, leaving injured people in desperate situations.
Thus far, the government has tried education programs, barbed wire, slippery paint and loud speakers, but thus far nothing has worked. They’re confident the concrete balls will work. Each is suspended from a metal frame and hangs in the air just a few inches above the top of the trains that pass underneath. And each is big enough and heavy enough to knock a person off a train top.
In this country, casual train hopping is not considered much of a problem, though it most assuredly is for migrant workers hopping on top of trains to ride from Central and South America into the United States to work. Many of them as noted in the HBO documentary Which Way Home, as reported by NPR, are children, and hundreds are injured and a few killed every year as they fall from top of trains into treacherous terrain below.
If the concrete balls work as planned in Jakarta, doubtless others will take notice and begin installing them as well. And while it will certainly prevent people from falling to their deaths, it won’t solve the problem of why so many are willing to risk life and limb to ride in such dangerous fashion in the first place.