Indonesia Rail Surfers Up Against Smelly Goop

Indonesia finds a smelly new way to fight train surfing

“Train surfing” is a strange new fad sweeping the world. In Jakarta, Indonesia, it has been a serious problem. Dozens of people have been killed, and many more injured, when they are hurt by falling or electrocution.

Indonesia has tried ingenious ways to keep the roofs of moving train cars clear. At first they used increased security, sniffer dogs, and paint guns. They have even suspended concrete weights above the train to strike surfers, in the hopes that this would scare them away. This has been effective on non-electric tracks, but cannot be used on electric trains.

Now they have chosen another method; brooms soaked in foul-smelling, sticky goo hanging in the path of the train roof, so that train surfers are whipped with this stinky mixture as the train rushes by. Railway officials have set stink traps all along the line linking Jakarta to Bogor, a city in West Java. Time will tell how successful they are.

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